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MEMOIRS OF A 
SENATE PAGE 

( 18 5 5 - 1 8 5 9 ) 


CHRISTIAN F. 6CKL0FF 

Edited by 

PERCIVAL G. MELBOURNE 

Jlv.thor of “ Child’s History of the War with Spain ” 



Fully Illustrated 


^roadway Publishing Company 
835 Broadway, e w York 







Ei-3l 

.Eh 

Co^py 4 


,iK wy \ ^p \g\ ^ ^ p\ 

Copyright, 1909, 

: ii , 

BY 

FERCIYAL G. MELBOURNE 
^[// Rights Reserved 

!|Y v ' i* 

y i\vL £3- s 'i(o 

(S 








CONTENTS. 


I. PAGE 

Introductory. . . .. I 

II. 

The Scene. 3 

III. 

Page Life. 10 

IV. 

The City From the Capitol Dome. 15 

V. 

Senatorial Dignity.—A Group of Leading 
Lights.—Mallory’s Faith. 19 

VI. 

Humorists of the Senate. 30 

VII. 

Buildings on the Mall. 51 

VIII. 

Romantic Character of the Great West Indian.. 56 

IX. 

The Question of Chaplains. 65 

X. 

Douglas; the Demosthenes of the Senate. 73 

XI. 

On the Admission of Kansas. 78 

XII. 

Dissertations on the Slave. 87 

XIII. 

Charles Sumner: Anti-Slavery Leader.......... 96 














ii Contents. 


XIV. ‘ v 

Assault on Sumner... 109 

XV. 

Butler’s Defense; and Oration on His Death.... 117 

XVI. 

Judge Wade. 129 

XVII. 

Continued Debate on Kansas Affairs. 137 

XVIII. 

Clayton: Scholar and Statesman. 157 

XIX. 

The Lecompton Swindle. 164 

XX. 

The Adversary of Douglas. 174 

XXI. 

Famous “Mud-Sill” Speech. 178 

XXII. 

The Men of Maine. 184 

XXIII. 

“Hireling Manual Laborers”. 194 

XXIV. 

Andrew Johnson: Tailor-Statesman. 205 

XXV. 

Jefferson Davis and Robert Toombs. 209 

XXVI. 

Passing From the Old Chamber. 218 














ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Facing 

Page 

I. Seward, Crittenden, Houston, Hale. 24 

II. Judah P. Benjamin. 56 

*111. Stephen A. Douglas. 74 

IV. Charles Sumner. 98 

V. Benjamin F. Wade. 130 

VI. Wilson, Hamlin, Johnson, Broderick. 194 

VII. Davis, Toombs, Hammond, Breckinridge .. 214 









































































Memoirs of a Senate Page 

i. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

The Senate chamber during the period of 
which this volume treats was the theatre of per¬ 
haps the most memorable scenes in the history of 
the upper house of Congress; and the men who 
swayed the public mind of the North and of the 
South, by means of mighty words and undaunted 
acts, furnishing thereby the great prelude to a 
great war, were men of whom whatsoever is re¬ 
lated should meet with wide popular interest. In 
those years the contest over slavery became more 
and more embittered, the Republican party began 
taking root in the political field, and a gulf grew 
wide between the opposite-minded throughout 
that grave and stolid house. 

As I look down the vista of years, in fancy I 
see again what struck the plastic mind of youth: 
many men of giant intellect and singular gifts, 
grandly outlined on that famous floor; and as 
the spectacular scenes glide by, I entertain in no 
less degree the infatuation I felt when as a boy, 
I heard, day by day, the eloquence of English 
flowing in unstemmed torrents, and beheld the 
speakers in all the loftiness of poise and com¬ 
mand. Secretly, and boylike enough, I had my 
favorites who arose armed to the teeth and broke 


2 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

lances in every debate. What schoolboy is not 
familiar with a score of those illustrious names? 

Quite naturally, in view of what I have already 
confessed, I afterwards watched and studied the 
lives, not only of such as v/ere my idols, but of 
all the senators I had known. Hence, in any 
lines from this pen touching that time and the 
actors in it, the substance is the better of course, 
for the reason that my memory has been kept 
fresh and my knowledge extended by continual 
inquiry into the records. 

Whosoever appreciates the genius that can 
shape men’s thoughts, and guide the wills of free 
people into certain and particular paths; whoso¬ 
ever appreciates the talent that can lay tributary 
to a vexed and difficult problem, an abundance 
of apt illustrations, wit, satire, and classic fig¬ 
ures; whosoever appreciates language incisive as 
the rapier, and again blunt and unqualified as 
man’s dogged determination, let him follow me 
through the posterns of half a century, and let 
the scene be the Senate of the United States. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


3 


II. 

the scene. 

It was a singularly fascinating experience to 
be present when the Senate convened after the 
long recess of Congress. The old chamber, deso¬ 
lated for several months of the year, now opens 
to new pages of history, and teems with life. 
Entering from all directions, some of them arm 
in arm, in couples and in small groups, senatorial 
lights arrive; representative men from all parts 
of the Union, men of so many types, of so many 
conditions of a country’s strength and greatness; 
coming with the right either of achievement in 
the world’s race, or with approved heritage to 
fame; and here renewing friendships, there rec¬ 
ognizing antagonists, they range themselves for 
the mighty conflicts that may come, in which 
firm principle is behind the spoken word as the 
law of nature is behind the booming thunder. 

In those days, the scene was picturesque: wit¬ 
ness for example on the one hand the figure of 
General Houston, that great plainsman, wearing 
a broad sombrero and a vest of leopard skin; and 
on the other hand, the classic Charles Sumner, 
of Boston, exponent of the culture and learning 
of the gilded metropolis. Or, again, fancy a man 


4 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

like Judge Wade, who had fought his way to the 
fore through adversity in every guise, and then 
the southern aristocrat, Jefferson Davis, or John 
C. Breckinridge. Indeed, many strange contrasts 
were noticeable, and with all those men grouped 
as the living expressions of a wide country’s 
thought and wish, the place of their assembling 
was made a glorious ground. 

Sixty-two senators, representing thirty-one 
States, composed the whole. Mingling with the 
statesmen were many persons having the privi¬ 
lege of the floor. John C. Rives, publisher of 
the Congressional Globe , was prominent; and 
another equally so, was Col. W. W. Seaton, one 
of the editors of the National Intelligencer , then 
the leading newspaper of Washington. A majes¬ 
tic-looking old soldier, who was known by every¬ 
one, moved about in the crowd, and his visits 
were frequent through the sessions. This was 
General Winfield Scott, the grand old warrior. 

As I reflect upon the scene, I find myself back 
again, feeling like the rest of the pages, viz.: 
second in importance only to the senators them¬ 
selves. 

The hall where cluster so many hallowed 
memories of patriotic hearts, and in which the 
Senate was in those days located, is now used for 
the Supreme Court, and that court was then di¬ 
rectly underneath in the basement. There was an 
alluring atmosphere about the place that has per¬ 
force vanished with past days, personal recollec- 
tions of which must ever fill the heart with deep 
emotion, for so complete and so tragic were the 
changes of the succeeding years. On that famed 


Memoirs of a Senate Page $ 

floor were many brave spirits that were soon to 
be marshalled on other ground in the vain hope 
of disrupting the nation whose pride they were. 
The call of duty wrought sadly among friends 
of long standing. And not only that—but we 
shall not linger here. 

A feature of the old chamber which lent the 
appearance of comfort and homeliness were the 
open fires. There were four grates beneath 
mantel shelves in the corridor back of the Vice- 
President’s desk, and two Franklin stoves with 
open way, near the main entrance. For fuel we 
used hickory wood which was brought up and 
piled on the andirons as it was needed. In front 
of those crackling fires, standing with their backs 
to the blaze and their coat-tails spread, many re¬ 
nowned statesmen have whiled away spare mo¬ 
ments spinning yarns, exchanging confidences, 
and poking fun at one another. During these 
intervals of relaxation, the talk was brimming 
with keenest wit, and if by chance certain gay 
hearts were there, a little froth of overmastering 
fun would rise a-top of it all. This by-play was 
wholly missed by the public; the walls alone 
could tell what was said if walls would speak. 

One winter I recall—the winter of 1855-56, if 
I am not mistaken—was extremely severe, with 
frequent snows and the mercury trying hard to 
get out at the bottom of the tube. Woolen 
shawls were then the fashionable garment for 
both men and boys, and they were heavy and 
warm; of somber hues, principally grey and 
brown, with a little variety in Scotch plaids. It 
was a common sight to behold the revered dig- 


6 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

nity of the Senate wrapped head and all in these 
big shawls, and comfortably retaining them in 
the chamber on very cold days. Many of the 
older men in their efforts to keep warm made 
frequent pilgrimages to the open grates, and 
were far more interested in the state of the fires 
than in any State of the Union. 

It is amusing to me when I think of those 
shawls and the grotesque appearance they gave 
to the wearers; but overcoats were very rarely 
seen in those times. I remember seeing individu¬ 
als, great travelers probably, who wore the 
Talma, the cloak of the French actor. 

Distinctly, the Senate was a black broadcloth 
assemblage, the cut of the coat being a long 
frock. Silk hats prevailed among men of the 
North, and were popular with senators generally, 
although some southerners and westerners pre¬ 
ferred the soft black or Kossuth hat. 

Those were the kindly days of quill pens and 
snuff. The last links of bygone days were slow 
to be relinquished by the gentlemen of the old 
school. Steel pens were in use, but many sena¬ 
tors clung to the quills and were very exacting in 
their wishes. No other sort of pen would an¬ 
swer. They did all their own writing, as they 
had no secretaries then. There was a token of 
gracious dignity in this personal attention to cor¬ 
respondence. The old custom of using sand for 
blotting was also in practice Upon each desk 
there was a small box of sand for the purpose; 
the sand being sprinkled over the written sheet 
which instantly dried the ink and was then 
brushed back into the receptacle. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 7 

There were two snuff boxes on the Vice-Presi¬ 
dent’s desk, one on each side. In addition to 
these, some of the pages carried snuff especially 
for senatorial emergency. I believe four boxes 
could be counted on in this direction in an ex¬ 
tremity of need. A number of senators were 
very fond of snuff. Seward, Foot, Collamer, 
Cass, Evans, and Butler were so much addicted 
to its use, they could not speak well without it. 

Singular as it may seem, there was no tele¬ 
graph office in the Capitol; the nearest offices be¬ 
ing the Morse line and the House line of printing 
telegraph, both under the National Hotel, corner 
of Pennsylvania avenue and Sixth street. Sena¬ 
tor Benjamin, for one, had acquired the habit of 
telegraphing to such an extent that hardly a day 
passed without his sending one of the pages to 
the telegraph office with a dispatch. It always 
meant some small change for the boy that, car¬ 
ried one for him. 

Such luxuries as a bath-room or barber shop 
were unknown in the building. Potomac water, 
which later supplied the city, was not yet intro¬ 
duced. Congress was served for drinking pur¬ 
poses with spring water which was conducted by 
a pipe line from a farm beyond the northern 
limits of the city. For all other purposes, rain 
water was collected from the roof of the build- 
ing. 

One day in late years, I wandered back to the 
old haunts in search of a once familiar place, but 
it was no more. I refer to the “Hole-in-the- 
Wall.” In the rear of the Senate post-office, 
near the rotunda, was formerly situated this far- 


8 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

famed restaurant, which, properly speaking, was 
the Senate Club. No outsider dared to venture 
there unless he was accompanied by a member. 
It was a small room where a colored cook named 
Carter presided. Upon second thoughts this 
“Hole-in-the-Wall” should have been called the 
Democratic Club, because the Senate was con¬ 
trolled by that party, and in this historic little 
room, Democratic senators sat at meat discussing 
their questions with perfect freedom. The Re¬ 
publicans were very scarce, as that party was in 
its infancy, and it was seldom that any of them 
interrupted the meetings. Sometimes after an 
exciting debate on the floor, the participants 
would come arm in arm merrily trudging along 
the golden way that led from the chamber to 
the cook shop. An amazing change after the 
high words spoken so short a time before. 
Strangers seeing these platoons of statesmen 
making for the post-office in such glee, might 
have wondered if they were hopeful of very 
good news awaiting them in the mail; but if they 
could have glanced behind the scenes and have 
smelled the savory odors issuing from platter and 
bowl, they might have said, “No wonder.” 

Now the public was refreshed at less expense, 
with less ado, and less of everything, and at a 
shorter distance from the Senate chamber. As 
you went down to the basement, just at the foot 
of the staircase, there was a stand with such 
wares for sale as cakes, pies, and beer. It was 
the only place where a lunch could be had with¬ 
out going outside of the Capitol. Fastidious 
persons, however, went either to Whitney's Ho- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 9 

tel, which was on the north side of the grounds, 
or to Caspari’s on the south side. 

At the time I became a page, Jesse D. Bright 
was President pro tern of the Senate. Mr. 
King, the Vice-President, who was elected on the 
ticket with Pierce in 1853, had died. Others I 
have seen in the Vice-President’s chair acting as 
President pro tem during the 34th and 35th Con¬ 
gresses were, besides Mr. Bright, “Governor” 
Firzpatrick, of Alabama, Foot, of Vermont, 
Wade, of Ohio, and Lafayette S. Foster, of Con¬ 
necticut. It was usual to change the chair after 
the business of the morning hour, if not because 
of the absence of the Vice-President, then merely 
in compliment to some leader. 

The principal officials connected with the Sen¬ 
ate were Hon. Asbury Dickens, of North Caro¬ 
lina, secretary; James M. Jamison, of Virginia, 
postmaster; Richard Sutton, official reporter; 
and Col. Deming R. McNair, of Kentucky, ser- 
geant-at-arms. 


10 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


III. 

PAGE LIFE. 

It was usual to retain a page, providing his 
work was up to the mark, until he became seven¬ 
teen years of age. The boys with few exceptions 
were the sons of widows, and the pay $2.40 a 
day, including Sundays, during the session, 
which with extras amounted to over $75 a month, 
was a neat competence for a small family of 
modest pretensions. The extra money was usu¬ 
ally earned by getting up albums of the senator 
autographs, and subscription lists for the pub¬ 
lished speeches. When an important speech was 
delivered, customarily one of the large printing 
offices would have it for publication. Democratic 
speeches were printed at the Globe office; and 
Republican speeches by Buell & Blanchard, 
whose office was where the old Tremont House 
stands, corner of Indiana avenue and Second 
street. We were paid thirty cents per 1000 on 
an eight page speech, and fifty cents on a sixteen 
page speech. When Douglas, Seward, Sumner, 
or some other magic name headed the list as the 
author of the speech, with a subscription of 50,- 
000 copies, it was easy to make as high as thirty 
dollars on one list. The sergeant-at-arms, who 
had charge of the pages, required us to form an 


Memoirs of a Senate Page ii 

organization, the presiding officer of which 
would assign either albums or lists to the several 
pages. There were about twelve of us. The 
proceeds we deposited with the treasurer, who 
held all funds until the end of each month, at 
which time it was equally divided among us. 

The president of our organization was Arthur 
P. Gorman. He, as a boy, exhibited those ster¬ 
ling qualities which developed the man and the 
distinquished senator. His temperament was 
very even and kindly, always considerate of the 
feelings of others; a youth of very few words, 
except on rare occasions. He was prompt and 
truthful, ever attentive to what was intrusted to 
him, and a favorite with all. Some years after 
he became a senator, I met him on a number of 
occasions and found him of the same pleasant 
and cordial disposition. Another page pretty 
much of Gorman’s stripe, was Charles Clement 
Ivey, known as the page to the Vice-President. 
Such an attachment existed between himself and 
Mr. Breckinridge, that on the outbreak of the 
Civil War he followed his friend South, and 
when the former Vice-President became a briga¬ 
dier general in the southern army “Clem” Ivey 
was appointed an aide on his staff. Among the 
other pages I am pleased to recall John P. D. 
Caton, now of the Government Printing Office; 
Leonard A. Frailey, pay-director of the Navy; 
Thomas A. Lynch, a naval engineer; and James 
Y. Potts, chief clerk of the Police Court, of 
Washington, D. C. The sons of senators, for the 
sake of the pleasure they derived from the exper¬ 
ience, often acted as pages, gratuitously. Sena- 


12 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


tor Douglas' sons, Robert and Stephen, Jr., and 
Senator Bright’s son Jesse, at different times 
were volunteers. 

Page life was in those days, and it must be 
now, the school of manners and manliness. No 
boy could have spent that much time at the im¬ 
pressionable age, in such close contact with those 
high-minded men without taking on to a greater 
or less extent the attributes of courteous, manly 
character. We were drilled also in the exercise 
of care and promptness in the performance of 
our duties. If a page was called upon to go on 
an errand, and failed to pay strict attention to 
what he was told, he would never be called upon 
by that same senator a second time. So it de¬ 
volved upon us to lend our ears, eyes, and our 
whole being to the instructions given. 

So utterly opposed was the Senate to the in¬ 
trusion of outside influences that the clamorous¬ 
ness of a creaking shoe was profoundly pro¬ 
hibited, on which account all pages were required 
to were slippers while in the chamber. I hardly 
think the boys had noisy shoes, but we were on 
the march so continually, that to prevent the pos¬ 
sibility of a tumult arising from these quarters, 
we had to wear the pumps. I understand the 
regulation is in force to this day. 

As before stated there were no secretaries to 
senators at that time; so after adjournment each 
day members had their correspondence to detain 
them. It was required of the pages to stay until 
every senator had left the chamber. All letters 
for the mail were handed to us to be sealed. The 
table where the sealing whs done was situated in 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


13 


the lobby, and a candlestick and sealing wax 
were always at hand. This was a busy bureau 
in the late afternoons, and as boys will be boys, 
they made as much fun out of it as was per- 
missable with quiet behavior, some of them, how¬ 
ever, going so far in the spirit of daredeviltry 
that they would flourish the burning stick of wax 
and let fall the seals where they pleased, some? 
times, as it would happen, on several letters in 
the most uncommon spots, in which event the 
disgrace was hastily dropped in the post-office. 
Then all the boys’ lips would have to be sealed, 
that is, metaphorically speaking. Occasionally, 
one of the letters bearing an overplus of seals, 
would crop up unexpectedly, and then woe to the 
boy who had committed the offence. 

A time comes to every boy when he feels it is 
the golden moment of his life. It came to me in 
this way. Senator Bigler, of Pennsylvania, 
called me one day, and pleasantly said: “My son, 
here is an important letter which I wish you to 
place in the hands of President Buchanan. Now 
be careful not to make any mistake in its delivery 
to him in person.” I informed the sergeant-at- 
arms of the import of my errand, and leaving the 
Capitol, proceeded on my way to the White 
House, in an omnibus. The great weight of re¬ 
sponsibility which rested upon me, seemed to 
make it harder for the horses to pull, and I sat 
there meditating upon the whole matter when 
suddenly at a point nearly opposite Willard’s, I 
observed the President walking on the pavement 
in front of the hotel. I was out of the omnibus 
in a hurry, and approaching His Excellency with 


14 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 

my hat in hand, said: “Mr. Buchanan, I have 
been directed by Senator Bigler to give you this 
letter in person.” The President smiled, thanked 
me, and opened it. I stood there with my hat 
in hand, scarcely daring to breathe in the august 
presence, until I saw his eyes turned on me and 
heard him say “No answer;” and overcome with 
excitement took the next ’bus back to the Cap¬ 
itol. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


15 


IV. 


THE CITY FROM THE CAPITOL DOME. 

Fifty years ago, looking down upon the “mag¬ 
nificent distances'’ from the dome, the seat of 
our national government presented very little of 
attractiveness. There was Pennsylvania avenue, 
a dirt road, whose surface was undulating, caus¬ 
ing vehicles to toss upon its bosom like ships at 
sea. At Second treet it crossed Tiber Creek on 
a wooden bridge. There were no street cars, the 
public being conveyed in omnibuses which ran 
on this thoroughfare from the Capitol to old 
High street, Georgetown. Senators who did not 
possess private carriages, yet wishing to ride, 
were thrown upon the alternatives of an omni¬ 
bus or a hired hack. Hacks were always to be 
found standing in front of the hotels. The Jehu 
of that period was the anthropoidal form of a 
species that evolved into the highwayman of re¬ 
cent years. 

On the west embankment of the Tiber, adja¬ 
cent to the “Avenue,” stood the serene old B. 
& O. railroad station, where the “lightning ex¬ 
press” ever and anon rumbled in with its human 
freight from overland afar; and travelers com¬ 
ing with perfect impunity and carpet bags, for 
an invasion of the Capital city and the halls of 


1 6 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

Congress, eddied along the great thoroughfare, 
all agog to pass through thick and thin to find 
out just what Congress did and how it fared at 
Washington; and often with the other object 
also, of seeking office in the departmental ser¬ 
vice. The small hotels and boarding houses 
along the south side of the avenue accommodated 
these transients as a rule; and most of their time 
while sojourning here was divided between the 
Capitol and the hotels where senators lived, 
standing around waiting for the chance of a pri¬ 
vate interview. The hotels principally patronized 
by senators were all located on “the avenue,” 
they were Willard’s, Brown’s, the Kirkwood 
House, the National, and the St. Charles. 

The view up the Mall began with the Botani¬ 
cal gardens, a spot that seemed to have been 
plucked out of the heart of a tropical land and 
planted in our midst. Always a favorite resort 
for members of Congress, it was with pride that 
they conducted their visiting friends through its 
pleasant precincts. Beyond stood the Smith¬ 
sonian Institution, whose architectural grace and 
beauty has surely never been surpassed in any 
public edifice. The next object, and the last to 
arrest our attention on the line of the Mall, was 
the uncompleted Washington Monument, a mere 
block standing 144 feet in air, and waiting there 
for Congress to do something. 

Far toward the western horizon, Georgetown 
ldomed up with a haze hanging over its house¬ 
tops, the unmistakable sign of industry. On its 
waterside, the spars of tall ships were visible; 
for it was a port of some consequence in the trad- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 17 

ing world, and many vessels from the West In¬ 
dies, with cargoes of sugar, molasses, fruits, and 
tobacco, dropped anchor here. On the high 
banks of the river above the town rose the grace¬ 
ful spires of Georgetown College, at that time 
as well as now, an institution of repute. 

In a course running nearly east and west, and 
just south of “the avenue” the murky waters of 
the Chesapeake and Ohio canal washed down and 
emptied into the Tiber. Bordering this water¬ 
way were lumber and wood yards; and during 
the summer time, scows and pungies brought 
down watermelons, unshipping them at points 
along by the market. Darkies had good old 
times on the edge of this canal, their dusky pres¬ 
ence completing the picture of the Southland. 

To the northwest of the Capitol, within a 
radius of not more than six or seven squares, 
was a section of the city where senatorial resi¬ 
dence was chiefly desired. Many of those well- 
constructed houses stand to-day to mark the so¬ 
cial center of this period. On I street, imme¬ 
diately west of New Jersey avenue, three noble¬ 
looking houses with broad fronts and generously 
wide doors and windows, were built by the three 
friends—Senators Douglas, Rice and Breckin¬ 
ridge. Douglas resided in the end house on the 
west, whose lovely old garden with stately trees, 
speaks in these days with the language of its 
deep foliage, and tells of the gracious women 
and courtly men who strolled out on the velvet 
lawn and yielding to the appeal of lovely even¬ 
ings engaged themselves in happy converse until 
late hours. (This house in after years became 


18 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

the residence of the Apostolic Delegate, and the 
one owned by Breckinridge became the home of 
General Grant, subsequently of General Sher¬ 
man, and latterly of Mayor Emery.) Two other 
houses renowned for lavish hospitality were the 
homes of Ex-Mayor Seaton, on E street, and 
that of Ex-Mayor Gales, on the heights north of 
the city. Numbering among their guests were 
many persons of high standing in official life and 
in letters. 

To the east of the Capitol, and directly facing 
it, stood a row of fashionable boarding houses, 
where quite a colony of Congressional people 
were lodged. At the corner of First and A street, 
northwest, was situated the “old Capitol,” a 
building which, when the British burned the for¬ 
mer Capitol in 1814, was fitted up for the tem¬ 
porary use of Congress. Surveying the panora¬ 
ma lastly from the dome, one spot on the eastern 
outskirts of the city, draws our attention. It is 
the Congressional Cemetery with its remarkable 
headstones, so closely allied to our subject by rea¬ 
son of its having received 

“Each in his narrow cell forever laid” 

many whose voices once rang in legislative halls, 
and are now stilled to eternity. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


19 


V. 

SENATORIAL DIGNITY—A GROUP OF LEADING 

lights—mallory’s faith. 

With the possible exception of the United 
States Supreme Court, the most dignified body in 
our land was, and is now, the Senate at Wash¬ 
ington. There is no other place where a body of 
legislators uphold so high,a standard in this re¬ 
gard. They are also exceedingly sensitive on 
the score of having honor and respect paid to 
their deliberations. This is carried to such an ex¬ 
tent that even when not in session and but few 
occupy their seats, rapt solemnity reigns over the 
hall. It was always so as I remember. And so 
all-pervading was the sensation of awe, that an 
outsider scarce dared whisper. His imagination 
without control was loosed; it seemed to him that 
from every nook and corner spectres of a past 
age peered out as if they lurked there as guard¬ 
ians of the old order of things. 

Every senator has a duty self-imposed, of 
using all his endeavors in support of the sover¬ 
eign dignity that has become proverbial. One 
day I recall, a few minutes after adjournment, a 
representative from the House came into the 
chamber, and taking the seat of an absent mem¬ 
ber, leaned back nonchalantly and put his feet up 


20 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


on the desk. He was a tall man and conspicu¬ 
ously longer from his waist down than from that 
point up; so much so indeed, that he might have 
been said to be long of limb. It was Representative 
Farnsworth, of Illinois, of whom I speak; and 
his attitude at that moment was not only grossly 
at variance with the traditions of the Senate, but 
very awkward to say the least. Senator Wilson, 
though a friend of Mr. Farnsworth’s, was quick 
to notice the unusual scene. He directed me, as 
I happened to be near, to go to the gentleman and 
say that was not the proper position for anyone 
to assume while in the Senate chamber. I re¬ 
peated the message as it was given, whereupon 
Mr. Farnsworth took his feet down and laugh¬ 
ingly said: “You’re more dignified over here 
than we are in the House.” lie was certainly 
right about that. 

Senator Wilson was an index of decorum, al¬ 
ways preserving an austere manner in the cham¬ 
ber. He represented the proud old common¬ 
wealth of Massachusetts, and he represented her 
with statesmanship the highest. His was a most 
remarkable beginning, and the pattern of his life 
was like that of many of America’s famous men. 
Through hardship and struggle he fought the 
battle on the hill of life, inch by inch, ever press¬ 
ing forward to new ground until at length he 
reached the summit of success. Born in a small 
town of New Hampshire, in a home of poverty, 
he was forced at the early age of ten years, to 
seek an apprenticeship to a farmer named Wil¬ 
son. His own name was Jeremiah Colbath, but 


Memoirs of a Senate Page * 21 

he adopted his benefactor’s name by special act 
of legislature. Eleven years were spent in agri¬ 
cultural pursuits, each year serving to strengthen 
him more and more in the hardihood of New 
England character. By the time of the expira¬ 
tion of his indentures, he had read nearly one 
thousand volumes, chiefly of history and biogra¬ 
phy, and these books to the ambitious youth be¬ 
came the templets upon which he fashioned his 
career. He now set out and walked to Natick, 
where he addressed himself to the occupation of 
shoemaking. As a shoemaker he had ample op¬ 
portunity for thought, which by long use formed 
in his character a valuable attribute. Some years 
later we find him a prosperous shoe manufac¬ 
turer. In 1840, he became active in General Har¬ 
rison’s campaign, making a great many speeches, 
and helping to win the victory which swept him 
into the State legislature. In 1855, he was elected 
to the United States Senate, to fill the vacancy 
occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Everett. 
The Whig party of Massachusetts was to the 
backbone a party of aristocrats, dominated by 
men of culture and education, and although pro¬ 
fessing to advocate the cause of the working 
masses, they carefully avoided too close contact 
with them. Mr. Everett—a man of high birth 
and advanced scholarship, an associate of the 
English nobility—had long represented the party 
in the Senate. Now the Natick shoemaker as¬ 
pired to fill the vacant seat. It was considered a 
disgrace to the old commonwealth, but Henry 
Wilson was elected nevertheless, and while he 
was not a man of letters such as Edward Everett, 


22 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

he was a dignified gentleman, a master of politi¬ 
cal questions, a fearless and faithful legislator, 
and was twice re-elected. An untiring worker 
during the Civil War, when he was chairman of 
the Committee on Military Affairs, he earned the 
title of “The Soldier’s Friend.” In 1872, Mr. 
Wilson became Vice-President of the United 
States on the ticket with General Grant. 

The following ringing words spoken by him in 
reply to a speech of a southern senator in which 
it was claimed that “hireling manual laborers” 
were essentially slaves, reflect so much upon his 
own life that they are not out of place in this 
sketch, although somewhat in advance of the dis¬ 
cussion : 

“Sir, I am the son of a 'hireling manual la¬ 
borer,’ who with the frosts of seventy winters on 
his brow, lives by daily labor. I, too, have been 
a 'hireling manual laborer.’ Poverty cast its 
dark and chilling shadow over the home of my 
childhood; and want was sometimes there—an 
unbidden guest. At the age of ten years, to aid 
him who gave me being in keeping the gaunt 
spectre from the hearth of the mother who bore 
me, I left the home of my boyhood and went 
forth to earn my bread by daily labor.” 

I At the American National Council, held in 
Philadelphia in 1855, Mr. Wilson, the logical 
leader of the opponents of slavery, while making 
an address, observed a southerner to cross the 
hall with a revolver in hand, and approach very 
near him, where he took a seat, with the intention 
of a threat. The slaveholder had misjudged his 
man, for the insult was rebuked in these round 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 23 

sentences: “Threats have no terror for free men. 
I am ready to meet argument with argument, 
scorn with scorn, and if need be blow with blow. 
It is time the champions of slavery in the South 
realize the fact that the past is theirs, the future 
ours.” 

There is but a word necessary to be said in 
introducing the New York senator, William H. 
Seward. The Secretary of State in Lincoln’s 
cabinet, is commonly recognized as one of the 
most notable of American statesmen. Lofty in 
thought, cool in judgment, rock-grounded in ar¬ 
gument, he was decidedly impressive as a 
speaker. His course was always deliberate and 
wise. Very thorough in style, a model lawyer, 
an unflinching advocate, and a man of great 
gravity in all transactions, Mr. Seward easily 
ranged with the forefront of the leaders in the 
Senate. He was conspicuous in the great de¬ 
bates, and as one of the chief factors in the 
cause of abolition, he was unyielding even on 
infinitely small points where pro-slavery con¬ 
testants might possibly gain an inch. He took a 
firm stand on the remarkable Kansas question, 
as will be seen in the pages following. 

On one occasion (February, 1856) in a speech 
on an appropriation bill, he alluded to the Senate 
in these words: 

“I confess, therefore, sir, to an earnest desire, 
a strong desire, to retain for the House of Rep¬ 
resentatives the privileges and rights which it has 
exercised from the foundation of the government 
to this day. i I am n ot among st those who under- 


24 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

value the patriotism, or the intelligence, or the 
virtue of the Senate of the United States. No 
man is more reverential of the virtue of the dead 
of past ages, or of their wisdom, than I am; no 
man is less likely to h? extravagant in praises of 
their wisdom than I am; no man is less likely to 
be extravagant in praises of the wisdom and vir¬ 
tue of the living; yet, sir, I am one of those who 
regard it as amongst the caprices, and the follies, 
and the absurdities of this age, that we are ac¬ 
customed to suppose our fathers were wiser than 
we are, or more virtuous than we are. Sir, I 
think that the sun of heaven never shone upon a 
body of more patriotic men than that which I 
have the honor to address. It is for me a pride 
which I shall carry to my grave, that I was 
deemed worthy bv the State to which I belong, to 
be associated, by their act, as a member of this 
august body. So far from its having deteri¬ 
orated I believe it has gained both in virtue and 
in wisdom.” 

Elected first to succeed Henry Clay, John J. 
Crittenden, the distinguished Kentuckian, served 
his State in the Senate many years; was twice 
appointed Attorney General of the United States, 
served a term as Governor of his State, and was 
a senator again in the 34th and 35th Congress. 
He was not only one of the ablest men of Ken¬ 
tucky, but one of the ablest of American states¬ 
men. Broad-minded, generous, and brave, he 
was an advocate of measures looking to the 
pacification of the whole country at the time 
when difficulties were arising between the sec- 


I 



WtlUAM W .5EW\RV. JOHN 0. CRITTENDEN. 


SAMUE.L HOUSTON. 


JOHN P. HALE. . 
























































































































































































































































































' 









































































• - 





































, 





































































Memoirs of a Senate Page 25 

tions, as an example of which patriotic princi¬ 
ples, the following noble address, made March 
17, 1856 (at the age of seventy-one), in a re¬ 
joinder to Senator Toombs, of Georgia, is 
quoted: 

“I am neither of the Democratic nor of the 
Republican party. I wear no party shackles. I 
am here as the Senator of “Old Kentucky”— 
brave and noble old commonwealth. My ambi¬ 
tion is to act in her spirit and by her inspiration. 
I did not come here to act in the character of a 
partisan. 

“Long service and experience in public affairs 
have divested me of much of the misconception, 
the prejudice, and the passion that belongs to the 
partisan; and upon lately taking my seat here, 
probably in the last term of my public service, it 
was my intention and my hope to act rather the 
part of patriot than that of party man. 

“I am a true son of the South; may prosperity 
fill all her borders, and sunshine forever rest 
upon her head, but for all this, I do not love the 
Union the less. I am a true citizen of the United 
States; I claim the whole of it as my great coun¬ 
try; and for the preservation of that Union 
which makes it so, I will always be ready to say 
and do. It is in this spirit, sir, that I have en¬ 
deavored humbly to do my duty—my duty to the 
South, and my duty to the whole country.” 

The Chippewa Indians, and in fact the Sioux' 
and Winnebago tribes also, whose lands covered 
a greater portion of Minnesota, had an unfail¬ 
ing friend in the Senate in the person of 


26 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

one whom they called in their strange tongue a 
name which is rendered “White Rice” in English. 
Henry M. Rice, senator from Minnesota, was 
that friend. He was a staunch American, and in 
his characteristics he bore the trace of that sturdi¬ 
ness which animated the frames of our early 
pioneers. His birthplace was Waitsfield, Ver¬ 
mont. At the age of twenty he emigrated to the 
frontier town of Detroit, and two years later 
shouldered a pack and trudged two hundred miles 
westward to a part of the country but little more 
than a wilderness. He became a trader, and for 
many years controlled the trading interests of 
that region. In the early days, back in Vermont, 
he had studied law, and in this new country he 
applied his knowledge of that profession toward 
securing the passage of many laws, and the fram¬ 
ing of a State constitution, preparatory to the 
admission of Minnesota into the Union. His 
election to the United States Senate was an honor 
wholly due to one who had rendered such valu¬ 
able service to the State. 

He was such a man as suited the environment 
of the Minnesota wilds, where he had followed 
the old Indian trails, and had by kind contact 
cemented many friendships around the campfires. 
He had dwelt and had hunted with the redskins 
long enough to learn the traits of their character, 
and to know their needs and, therefore, their 
deserts. He grasped within the compass of his 
broad sense of right, a full appreciation of a de¬ 
clining race in the tenants of the wigwam; and in 
the Senate of the United States he was a force 
working to the advancement of the cause of those 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 27 ' 

tribes whose trust he had won in fair and manly 
intercourse upon the far borders of the north-' 
west. 

“White Rice” went in and out among them in 
their haunts, as one who wore a wampum in 
token of high privilege and power in their coun¬ 
cils and in their hearts. 

In the island of Trinidad, Stephen Russell 
Mallory was born. His boyhood was spent at 
Havana until the death of his father when the 
widow and her son removed to Florida. Al¬ 
though his father was a native of Connecticut, 
Stephen Mallory had resided with Spanish- 
Americans for so many years and had married a 
Cuban lady, there was every reason for his hold¬ 
ing in his heart the most tender feelings toward 
these Castilian people. He was senator from Flor¬ 
ida from 1851 to 1861, when he joined the Con¬ 
federacy. In 1858, he was proffered the appoint¬ 
ment of Minister to Spain, but declined. 

The Senate having under consideration a bill 
providing for the acquisition of Cuba by nego¬ 
tiation (February, 1859), Mr. Mallory made an 
inspired address in defence of the Cubans and 
their religion. In part he spoke as follows: 

“It is said that Cubans are Catholic and there¬ 
fore averse to, and unfitted for, liberty, and that 
the Catholic Church is hostile to freedom. An 
assertion so irreconcilable with the truth of his¬ 
tory scarcely merits a serious answer; but, sir, if 
this charge shall ever be made under circum¬ 
stances requiring a response. Heaven grant that 
the Church may have the privilege of confronting 


28 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


her enemies here before the freest and greatest 
forum upon the earth. As one of her humblest 
followers, and a most indifferent one, I regret to 
say—perhaps the only one in the body, I stand 
always ready in her defence; but, sir, she needs 
no defence. There she stands, with her historic 
truth and traditionary love of eighteen centuries 
clustering around her head, her annals illustrated 
and adorned by the proudest names and monu¬ 
ments of earth; her teachings sublime and uni¬ 
versal, her morning sacrifices to the everliving 
God. It is also alleged that the Cubans are igno¬ 
rant ; that they are satisfied with Spanish domin¬ 
ion, and desire no change. Sir, I profess to know 
something of the Cubans, and I feel bound to re¬ 
mind those gentlemen who have dealt here in 
wholesale abuse and in some inuendoes against 
their indisposition to liberty, against their inca¬ 
pacity for self-government, against their ignor¬ 
ance and superstition, that in of about six hun¬ 
dred thousand whites they sustain one daily jour¬ 
nal at least having nine thousand daily circula¬ 
tion; while in the mother country there is not a 
single paper that has two thousand, and that daily 
journal, about the size of our Journal of Com- 
merce, is twice the size of any in Spain. They 
have sought the United States upon every occa¬ 
sion ; and those you have seen here are fair speci¬ 
mens of the Cubans. In private virtues, I do not 
believe they will compare unfavorably with our 
people. The spirit of hospitality rests upon 
every Creole mansion in Cuba. Most especially 
does it to an American. The miserable pretense 
has been set up, and sometimes urged here that 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


29 


this people crushed and downtrodden as they are, 
do not desire a change of government. It is the 
most preposterous presumption on earth, that a 
people thus welcoming the sun in her coming, 
and her vesper bells cheering his departure 
throughout the bounds of earth. Sir, let the 
charge be seriously made, and its refutation will 
be found in every forum and upon every field 
where freedom has been lost or won.” 


30 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


VL 

HUMORISTS OF THE SENATE. 

He who brightens the dull path of logic with a 
glimmer of absurdity, or a humorous reflection 
here and there, makes it much easier for himself 
to be understood, oftentimes; and it enables him 
to take a fresh hold upon his audience. A little 
nonsense was always relished by the Senate, and 
in that body there were some master wits. “Sam” 
Houston, of Texas, John P. Hale, of New Hamp¬ 
shire, and “Bob” Johnson, of Arkansas, were the 
most noted. Others there were who recognizing 
the force of humor could not refrain from 
sprinkling their speeches with drollery; and some 
again were funny when they were in serious 
mood. For instance, fancy a leader in parlia¬ 
mentary debate, rising and creating almost a 
tumult by rapping vigorously for one of the 
pages to bring him snuff; for the pages who car¬ 
ried snuff boxes had a bean which kept the con¬ 
tents moist and in good condition, better than the 
senators themselves could keep it. 

I remember some men who were very excep¬ 
tional characters. Lewis Cass, of Michigan, was 
one. He was often comical, though he may not 
always have intended to be so. He wore a wig of 
reddish hue, and when he waxed warm over an 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 31 

argument, this wig would slip a trifle to one side, 
giving him, to say the least, a wry look. Then 
he had a habit of ordering a glass of lemonade 
to be placed before him while making a speech, 
and would take a sip of it after each dry remark. 

Robert W. Johnson, or “Bob” Johnson, as he 
was called, had the true sense of the ridiculous. 
He was a man of generous impulses, and those 
genial traits that endear one to his fellows. A 
good speaker, he was not blind to the openings 
where a little fun could be inserted, and he made 
the Senate roar with laughter. At two o’clock 
one morning (in 1856), when there was a dead¬ 
lock, and everybody was drowsy, he roused them 
to almost continuous laughter. 

He said: 

“It is now two o’clock. One of our rules is 
that ‘no member shall speak more than twice in 
any one debate the same day, without the leave of 
the Senate.’ Whether this rule has been ob¬ 
served or not, I shall not say, but as I have de¬ 
clared, it is now two o’clock.” 

A Senator: “It wants four minutes of that 
hour.” 

Mr. Johnson: “That is very near it. I wish to 
ask whether it is supposed that a vote will be 
taken on this bill after a while? There is no 
doubt whatever, judging from the deep-toned 
feeling which exists here (laughter), and from 
the exhibit of the numerous and well-filled seats 
and benches around me( renewed laughter) that 
the excitement of the debate stirs to the very 
depths the feelings of everyone on both sides of 
the House. Not one seat is vacant, for I see 


32 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

them all filled. (Laughter.) Does not this cir¬ 
cumstance justify us in coming to a vote? 

“Sir, the hour is late. In fact I might have 
said the same thing with perfect truth, two hours 
ago. It was a late hour then, the session has been 
protracted to an unusual and extraordinary 
period. I have listened with great pleasure, and 
I hope with much instruction, to the many views 
which have been presented by various senators; 
but I think we have at last got more than enough 
of a good thing. The rules prescribe how often 
a senator is permitted to speak on a single sub¬ 
ject on the same day. I have already read that 
rule. It may be, sir, that there is a great deal 
which has not been said that ought to be said on 
this subject. It may be that the theme is far from 
being exhausted. It may be that the public mind 
needs enlightenment. It may be that the Senate 
requires light. Perhaps speaking will afford that 
light. I have no doubt of it, from the evident 
attention which we find here from the great num¬ 
ber who wait and listen. (Laughter.) This 
should satisfy us that that which is spoken wisely 
and well must have its effect, and may turn the 
tide on this question. I do not know by what spirit 
we are to be governed, or what direction our 
votes are to be borne. At this late hour, two 
o’clock, I see the chamber so full, and hear all 
around me the voice of discontent portraying to 
everyone the deep interest which the subject ex¬ 
cites, and I hear it from the recesses of the 
chamber behind us, that I am sure we will soon 
fmve the vote. I am sorry that gentlemen should 
; t „ prec;C 3 rv t0 te^ch others, and force their 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


33 


convictions on them, in the midst of the evident 
misery, the great excitement, and the almost rag¬ 
ing madness produced by this debate on those 
who are listening to it in every window, and all 
around the chamber. (Laughter.) Sir, I do not 
believe that any senator is disposed to violate the 
fourth rule, which says that ‘no member shall 
speak more than twice in one debate on the same 
day!’ This is a gentle intimation that no gentle¬ 
man is expected to detain the Senate unneces¬ 
sarily. May we not apply that principle to the 
debate on this subject? It has lasted from the 
first Monday of December until the present hour. 
I do not think it is reasonable to require us to 
listen to the discussion night and day. Sir, if we 
could have profound silence in the Senate for a 
moment, I believe we could hear all around us the 
outpourings of profound conviction, earnest 
sighs, deep breathings. (A voice: ‘Of the sleep¬ 
ers/) telling us with a strong voice, that the hour 
is late, and that we are not all qualified to sit here 
forever, though we may sit patiently as the sen¬ 
ator from Michigan (Mr. Cass) certainly does, 
notwithstanding the fact that he is the oldest man 
amongst us; but he cannot last forever. I trust 
we shall at once come to a vote, and have no more 
speeches on this subject, unless some speech 
which will bring this crisis to a determination, 
and settle the question of the very existence of 
the Union. What is the use of continuing the 
debate? Who has an idea that it is of impor¬ 
tance to pass this bill, unless it be adopted by the 
House of Representatives? Some southern men 
are said to be opposed to it; and I doubt exceed- 


34 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

ingly whether the bill will be passed by the 
House, though it may be adopted by the Senate. 

Senators will pardon me for having called 
their attention to the fourth rule. Of course the 
senator from New York (Mr. Seward), who I 
perceive desires to obtain the floor, will not un¬ 
derstand me as applying to him, for I believe he 
has not spoken more than two or three times 
to-day and to-night. (Laughter.) I hope that 
other gentlemen will be admonished by his exam¬ 
ple. I trust in view of the high exctement which 
now exists here, that no gentleman will lend a 
hand to increase it. (Laughter.) 

Now as for that skill in the sharp encounters 
of debate, which often depended on humor to 
blunt the poisoned shaft and toss it harmless at 
one’s feet, John P. Hale was without a match. 
His was the chasseur style—quick in action; first 
troubling the enemy at this point, then suddenly 
rallying on a fresh ground, outwitting him at 
every stand, until he is forced to retire. With 
courage, wit, and eloquence, he was a formidable 
opponent. 

During the discussion of a bill in relation to a 
railroad along Pennsylvania avenue from George¬ 
town to the Capitol (in January, 1859), Mr. Hale 
held the floor one afternoon and gave the Senate 
an amusing talk, which, if it did not accomplish 
much, caused them some diversion. 

Mr. Hale: Mr. President. 

The President pro tempore: The Senator * 
from Maine. 

Mr. Hale: The chair is mistaken about where 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 35 

I live. I live very near to the line of Maine; it’s 
only about four miles from where I live in New 
Hampshire. I have sat here this afternoon some¬ 
what impatiently. I am opposed to working on 
Saturday afternoons. When I was a boy I never 
used to go to school on Saturday afternoon. I 
always vote to adjourn over Saturday, and I 
always shall, for I think we shall be able to do 
the public business better in that mode. I have 
sat here all this afternoon impatiently under these 
debates on this little two-mile horse railroad. It 
has looked to me as if the Senate of the United 
States are rather coming down when they devote 
a whole day, and an extraordinary day of ses¬ 
sion to it; but since I have heard the Senator 
from Michigan, I am converted entirely. I think 
the day has been well spent, and it would be well 
to spend a little more time on this subject, and for 
that reason I have got up. (Laughter.) 

The suggestion the Senator from Michigan 
(Mr. Stuart) made which converted me is, that 
it is a question which towers up above all horse- 
railroads, and all Pacific railroads, and magnetic 
telegraphs, and everything of that sort, because 
in his imagination—and he has given it to us 
gravely, deliberately, and emphatically—it is a 
question whether the Senate has anything to do 
with the legislation of the country or not. Now, 
sir, I am for the Senate; and if that is the ques¬ 
tion, and if it is that which is involved in this 
horse-railroad, I am against it. (Laughter.) 

The President pro temporo rapped with his 
gavel. 

Mr. Hale: You did not knock at me, sir—did 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


36 

you? (Laughter.) I confess that the question 
presents itself to me in an aspect entirely differ¬ 
ent. It presents itself to my mind in a much 
more terrific aspect than any view in which I 
have been in the habit of looking upon it. But, 
sir, I think the Senator from Michigan is mis¬ 
taken. I cannot but think that the privilege and 
prerogatives of the Senate will be preserved 
whether this horse railroad be incorporated or 
not. I do not think their track will go through 
the Capitol grounds, or in any other way inter¬ 
fere with us: and even if this railroad bill should 
be passed to-night, we shall come here at twelve 
o’clock on Monday, and commence the discharge 
of our functions exactly as well as if the bill had 
not passed. . . . 

Mr. Stuart (of Michigan). I am not at all 
surprised at the argument of the Senator from 
New Hampshire, and I do not at all regret it. I 
am not surprised that he should have assured me 
and the Senate that he had been here to-day and 
did not know who was arguing one side and who 
the other on this question, because I found him 
asleep over there in his chair (laughter), his 
head lying back, of course he knew nothing. 

Mr. Hale: Mr. President. 

The President pro tempore: Will the Senator 
from Michigan yield to the Senator from New 
Hampshire ? 

Mr. Hale: Never mind; I shall get it in a mo¬ 
ment. 

Mr. Stuart: It did not amaze me for a mo¬ 
ment that the Senator should misrepresent all I 
said. It is bis habit. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 37 

Mr. Hale: I call him to order, sir. 

The President pro tempore: The Senator will 
take ms seat. Will the Senator from New Hamp¬ 
shire state his question of order? 

Mr. Hale: He says it is my habit to misrepre¬ 
sent ; and that is an impeachment of my integrity 
on the floor, which he has no right to make. 
That’s the ground for calling him to order. 

The President pro tempore: Will the Senate 
say whether the Senator from Michigan is in 
order or not? 

Air. Davis: I think the point of order is clearly 
well taken by the Senator from New Hampshire. 
I do not think it senatorial for one Senator to say 
to another that he misrepresents anything. 

Mr. Hale: He said I not only did it, but that 
it was my habit. 

The President pro tempore: The Senator from 
Michigan has the floor. 

Mr. Stuart: I am very sorry that the Senator 
from New Hampshire should have so changed his 
feelings. 

Mr. Hale: I call for the rule of the Senate to 
be enforced. 

Mr. Pugh: What is it? 

Mr. Hale: I called the Senator to order. The 
Chair should either decide it, or submit it to the 
Senate. 

The President pro tempore: The Chair submit¬ 
ted to the Senate whether the Senator from 
Michigan should proceed in order. The Chair 
heard no objection, and took it for granted that 
it was the sense of the Senate that the Senator 
from Michigan should proceed in order. 


33 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


Mr. Hale: I did not so understand. 

The President pro tempore: The Senator from 
Michigan has the floor. 

Mr. Stuart: I was remarking that I was a lit¬ 
tle surprised that the Senator from New Hamp¬ 
shire should have so changed his own feelings. 
He waked up in a most mirthful sympathy just 
now. He was full of glee and made a very vio¬ 
lent effort to see if he could not make a little fun 
out of the remarks I made. He is now changed 
in his tone entirely; he is an offended Senator; 
he has waked up cross. That is remarkable; be¬ 
cause when a gentleman introduces in a body of 
this sort a scene of drollery, he mars the whole 
play when he undertakes to change it to one of 
anger; it should be carried out. Now everybody 
knows the attention that is paid by the Senator 
from New Hampshire to all business; that he is 
always in his seat, always knows what is going 
on, never speaks but to enlighten the Senate, 
never leaves the Senate unnecessarily to go into 
his State or elsewhere. Indeed, sir, he is one of 
those lights of the body that the Senate can 
scarcely get along without; and therefore I felt 
that when the Senator stated I had said the only 
question presented here to-day was a question in¬ 
volving the rights of the Senate, the Senate 
was bound to believe that, notwithstanding my 
argument was entirely the reverse. I said I had 
heard that argument that the Senate must not 
amend a bill because it would be lost in the House 
of Representatives. I did not say that the ques¬ 
tion presented to the Senate was one whether it 
would maintain its own powers of legislation or 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 39 

not. I said no such thing. I said that the argu¬ 
ment carried out must mean that and nothing 
more. I said it emphatically, the Senator says. 
I hope I said it respectfully to every Senator; and 
to the body; and if in arguing questions here, I 
shall deem it proper to speak directly to the point 
in a logical way, and for purposes of useful 
legislation, instead of thrusting myself in the 
arena like a clown at a circus, I must be excused 
for preferring that plain mode to the other. 

Mr. Clay: I move that the Senate adjourn. 
(“Oh, no!”) It is a quarter to five o’clock, and 
I think this farce is likely to be turned into a 
tragedy, and I hope the Senate will adjourn. The 
motion was not agreed to, there being on a divi¬ 
sion—ayes 14, noes 21. 

Mr. Hale: Mr. President, all personal matters 
are disagreeable to me. I want to state now—I 
do not go into anybody’s motives—but the Sena¬ 
tor from Michigan misstates entirely and totally 
the remark which I made, upon which he based 
what I suppose he calls wit, and I am willing to 
let it go on; and that was that I did not know 
upon which side gentlemen had been arguing 
here. 

Mr. Davis: I think the Senator is committing 
the very breach of decorum for which he called 
the Senator from Michigan to order. 

Mr. Hale: I did not say he misrepresented. 

Mr. Davis: You said misstated, which is some¬ 
what more harsh. I hope the Chair will enforce 
the rules of order. 

The President pro tempore: The Chair will de¬ 
clare the Senator out of order, and the Senate 


40 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

will determine whether he shall proceed in order. 
Those in favor of the Senator proceeding— 

Mr. Crittenden: I wish to say a word on that 
subject. I certainly desire the order of debate 
to be preserved as much as anybody, but although 
I acknowledge the term “misstate” sounds 
harshly, it does not imply that it is done inten¬ 
tionally. 

Mr. Hale: Certainly not. 

Mr. Crittenden: I may misstate a case which 
I do not understand. I examined a little once 
as to this very question. When you say a gentle¬ 
man has misstated, you mean only that he has 
stated erroneously, but not misrepresented or 
misstated intentionally. I consider it not out of 
order at all, but within the strictest rules of order. 

The Presiding Officer: Those in favor of the 
Senator proceeding in order will say “Ay.” The 
question was decided in the affirmative. 

Mr. Hale: I did not mean to be out of order, 
and I carefully weighed the word so as not to be 
out of order. I recollect reading a work of Dean 
Swift, in one of his travels in one of the nations 
that he went into, and he said they were so truth¬ 
ful that they had no word to represent falsehood; 
and when they wanted to say it they would simply 
say a man said the thing which was not; and that 
they said to get around the word “falsehood,” 
which was not in their language. Using the 
phraseology of that learned English writer, I will 
simply say that the Senator from Michigan has 
said the thing which was not. He stated that I 
had said I did not know which side gentlemen 
had been arguing upon in the Senate. I said no 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


41 


such thing; thought no such thing; intended no 
such thing. I said that outsiders, friends of these 
different companies, had been at me—the one and 
the other ; and I took so little interest in it that I 
did not know which was for one and which was 
for the other. I spoke of what occurred outside 
of the Senate, and not of what took place in it; 
and, therefore, I will admit that, if the basis had 
been true, the Senator from Michigan would 
have made a very witty speech, and that his 
censure would have been well applied. Now, sir, 
I shall not undertake to reply to any insinuations 
and innuendoes of the Senator from Michigan. 
I will let them all go. I plead guilty to the charge 
of not mingling in every subject that comes up 
from the incorporation of a railroad, or a pen¬ 
sion, to every great scheme that is brought before 
the country; and if there is to be any impeach¬ 
ment of my intelligence, or any want of attention 
to the affairs which belong to the Senate, from 
the fact that my voice is not heard on everything, 
in season and out of season, early and late, logi¬ 
cally, or illogically. I plead guilty, and leave to 
the Senator from Michigan, or anybody else that 
is desirous of it, any laurels that may be won in 
such a contest. I have none of them; but if the 
Senator thinks I have been asleep, I have this to 
say; I know some clergymen sometimes find fault 
with their parishioners and audience for going to 
sleep, but I think when a clergyman has a sleepy 
audience he has no right to complain. If the 
speaker has not vitality and energy enough to 
keep his hearers awake, I think they do wisely in 
going to sleep. (Laughter.) I have always 


42 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

thought so, and I do not mean that as any re¬ 
proach to anybody who speaks in the Senate; but 
if there is anybody in the Senate that has made 
his voice heard in season and out of season, and 
has failed to keep his audience awake, I think 
he had better examine his own powers a little, 
instead of finding fault with the audience. 
(Laughter.) 

Mr. Stewart: I concur with the Senator en¬ 
tirely and that gives me an opportunity of con¬ 
gratulating myself particularly for being able to 
wake him up. Until I spoke, sir, he was asleep, 
sound and snoring. (Laughter.) I presume if 
I had not spoken, he would have slept until this 
time, for I believe I am the only man in the Sen¬ 
ate that he takes especial pains to interfere with, 
and hereafter it will be known when it is neces¬ 
sary to wake up the great light of the East, I will 
speak and he will awake, and the country will be 
enlightened; they can be amused, the whole scene 
in the Senate can be changed; if argument will 
not answer, buffoonery will be resorted to. 


“Sam” Houston was one of the gentlest and 
most kindly natures I have ever known. A true 
friend and a gallant gentleman. Day after day, 
during spare moments, he sat there in his seat 
carving hearts out of soft pine wood. They were 
pieces about the size of the hand. When he had 
completed one of these works of art, he would 
summon a page, and pointing toward some fair 
spectator in the gallery, would say: “Give this 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 43 

to that lady up there, with General “Sam” Hous¬ 
ton’s compliments. Needless it is to add that 
these souvenirs were quickly accepted and highly 
prized. The blocks from which they were whit¬ 
tled, were especially prepared for the general by 
the Senate cabinetmaker (Mr. Griffith). 

At church (the E Street Baptist, Washington), 
the aisles would be choked with people at the 
close of service, waiting for a chance to get near 
the big Texan, who always occupied a pew near 
the pulpit. And there he would stand, his com¬ 
manding figure wrapped in a Mexican blanket, in 
cold weather, meeting the people as they came 
forward, speaking kind and sensible words to 
each one, from the lowest to the highest. 

His history is so universally known, as the 
leader of a force of invincible men, as a general, 
as the President of Texas, as governor, we hardly 
consider it necessary to dwell upon any period of 
his life, either before or after he was in the Sen¬ 
ate. 

He was a great fun-maker. Once (in April, 
1856), he related the following story in illustra¬ 
tion of a point in debate: 

“It reminds me, Mr. President, of a trial which 
took place not very far from here, before a 
magistrate endowed with a good portion of com¬ 
mon sense and considerable integrity, but not a 
highly educated man—not a metaphysician. When 
the parties appeared before him, after hearing the 
testimony on the side of the plaintiff, seeing a 
good deal of excitement around him, he ordered 
the court to adjourn, and went out hastily with 
some bustle. ‘Oh!’ said the people, ‘stop, stop, 


44 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

Squire, you are not going? 'Yes/ said he, *1 
have heard enough.’ ‘But,’ they said, ‘you have 
heard only one-half the case.’ ‘Yes,’ replied he; 
‘but to hear both sides of a case always confuses 
me, and I cannot give my decision. I am off!’ ” 
(Laughter.) 

Apropos of the additions making to the Cap¬ 
itol, in the year 1858, he addressed the Senate, 
with some poignancy not altogether void of hu¬ 
mor, touching upon the statuary designed for the 
ornamentation of the new structure. 

Mr. President: I am not acquainted with the 
details of extending the wings of the Capitol; but 
there is one circumstance to which my attention 
has been drawn, and on which I should like to 
obtain information; and that is, who are the 
sculptors that are employed in the shanties out 
here, in preparing the different statues for their 
appropriate places in the new Capitol? I have 
observed some of them; and the Goddess of Lib¬ 
erty, I believe, is one. I am an admirer of stau- 
ary, but I cannot say that I am a critic, or even 
an amateur in that department of art. It does 
seem to me that it is a figure which makes rather 
a queer display in the Capitol. In the first place, 
I object to its attitude, it appears to me to be in 
anguish—drawn back in the most ungraceful and 
ungainly attitude for a lady. (Laughter.) It 
appears to be in torment; and had it been physi¬ 
cal, I should have imagined that it really had a 
boil under the arm. (Laughter.) Take it all in 
all—take the tout ensemble —I have seen nothing 
resembling it. Instead of the bare feet with san¬ 
dals, it is represented with a very formidable pair 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


45 


of russet brogans, that would suit very well for 
laborers in the swamps of the South. That is 
one of the most queer and ridiculous things I 
have ever seen to represent human nature. I 
have never seen a wax figure but what was 
equally graceful and rather more beautiful and 
artistic in its appearance. 

Then there is an Indian woman, or squaw, to be 
more technical, seated on a slab of marble. That 
may be very well executed, but she has a little 
papoose in her arms and its little head is sticking 
out like a terrapin’s (laughter) without reclining 
gracefully on the arm. She has a blanket, or 
something, holding it up; and its little neck, with¬ 
out the least curve or grace, is very stiff like an 
apple on a stick. (Laughter.) Now, sir, I think 
of it, that throughout all ages, as long as this 
Capitol shall stand, or this Union exist, which I 
hope is to be forever, that poor little Indian has 
to sustain a heavy head with that little neck, and 
without a mother’s aid to hold it reclining on her 
arms. (Laughter.) Any person who will look at 
that must be agonized. Sir, the scenes around us 
in this building ought to inspire cheerfulness and 
pleasure. Instead of that, a contemplation of this 
figure will inflict agony on every human being of 
sensibility. 

And then there is a poor Indian boy, who looks 
as if he were of Oriental stock. He has a large 
shell on his shoulders; and in his agonizing atti¬ 
tude, water is to spout continually on him. He is 
in the most servile, miserable, cruel agonizing 
attitude in which I ever saw a creature. It will 
inspire us with feelings of anguish if we should 


46 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

ever see these figures displayed about the Capitol. 
I would like to have the gentleman of the Senate 
go and see them, before they are placed in a situ¬ 
ation where they will have to be removed: be¬ 
cause it will cost something to place them there. 
I insist that, at least, there ought to be an amend¬ 
ment for the purpose of providing curtains to 
hang in front of them, so that they may never be 
seen. I am a man of sympathy; I feel for hu¬ 
man suffering, and could not contemplate one of 
these three figures without the extremest agony. 

They are in torment; you would suppose they 
were representations of some criminal that had 
committed an unpardonable offense, for which he 
was doomed to perpetual agony. I object to 
their going into this Capitol, or being about it. I 
do not know the artist; I cannot exactly say 
whether he is a native—no, sir, I know he is not 
a native; for a native artist, observing nature as 
it is in our forests and in our wilds—for we all 
more or less pass through forests and see nature 
—animal, vegetable, mineral, all around us— 
could not have fancied such sketches as these are, 
I object to them unequivocally; I can never sub¬ 
mit to them. 

General Houston, like all men with a keen sense 
of humor, was sympathetic and kind. The In¬ 
dians, among whom he had lived a great deal, 
claimed his protection. He had witnessed the 
degradation of brave chieftains, due to the 
agency of hideous vice, introduced into the camps 
by white men. He made a speech in Jan. 18^, 
on the Indian. 

“They are a people isolated in their interests, 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


47 


and solely dependent for protection and justice 
upon the Government of the United States. The 
Indians have been charged with an aggressive 
and hostile spirit toward the whites, but we find, 
upon inquiry, that every instance of that sort 
which has been imputed to them has been in¬ 
duced and provoked by the white man, either by 
acts of direct aggression upon the Indians, or by 
his own incaution, alluring them to a violation of 
the security of the whites.” After citation of 
numerous instances, in which he alludes to early 
days, Houston said: “The course which has been 
pursued, since the days of William Penn to the 
present moment, has not been entirely successful 
in conciliating the Indians. But under the man¬ 
agement of Washington, of the first Adams, of 
Madison, of Monroe, of the second Adams, of 
Jackson, and of Polk, we have, with few excep¬ 
tions, been very successful in maintaining peace 
with them. The suggestions made by our fath¬ 
ers in relation to their civilization and humaniza¬ 
tion are exemplified and illustrated in the present 
condition of the southern tribes, who have re¬ 
ceived the greatest benefits of the light shed on 
them; and they have responded to it by the culti¬ 
vation of mind, by the development of resources, 
both physical and intellectual, which reflect luster 
on their character. 

When Texas was annexed to the United States, 
these Indians on account of faith having been 
maintained with them by the then Executive of 
Texas, refused to meet and confer with the com¬ 
mission sent to them by the President of the 
United States until they had the sanction of the 


48 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

Government of Texas; and the symbols of confi¬ 
dence were put in the hands of the commission¬ 
ers before the Indians would treat with them. 
Take an illustration. One of their chiefs, with 
his wife and child, and twelve men came to Fort 
Belknap, some one hundred and fifty or two hun¬ 
dred miles west of the fort at Hamilton’s Val¬ 
ley. Property had been stolen by Indians. It 
was not known which of thirteen different tribes 
had taken it, for outlaws occasionally congre¬ 
gated from each, half a dozen of them stealing 
off from their tribes without the influence of their 
chiefs operating upon them. They were outlaws, 
careless of the destiny of their tribes, and reck¬ 
less of the crimes they might commit, so long as 
they could gratify their cupidity, and recompense 
their daring. These men had taken some prop¬ 
erty. Dragoons came on in the direction of the 
Red River, and reached Fort Belknap. So soon 
as they arrived, the officer said to the chief: 'Sir, 
I retain you as a prisoner. It is true you came 
here under a white flag; but I am an officer. I 
have the power; I take you prisoner, and you 
must stay here a prisoner until the horses are 
brought back. Your men must stay, too, except 
one, whom I will send to your tribe with the in¬ 
telligence of the fact.’ The chief said: 'My tribe 
have not committed the robbery; it is a great dis¬ 
tance from me; it is in another direction. I come 
from the rising sun; that is toward the setting 
sun; I was far from it; you are between me and 
it; I did not do it.’ ‘But,’ said the officer, 'you are 
a prisoner.’ The officer put him in the guard 
house, Imprisonment is eternal infamy to an Im 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


49 


dian. A prairie Indian would rather die a thou¬ 
sand deaths than submit to the disgrace of im¬ 
prisonment. You may wound and mutilate him 
as you please, you may crush every limb in the 
body of a prairie Indian, and if he can make no 
other resistance he will spit defiance at you when 
you come within his reach. This chief meditat- 
ing upon his deep disgrace, knowing that he was 
irreparably dishonored, unless he could wash out 
his stains with blood, resolved that night that he 
would either die a free man or rescue himself 
from dishonor. He rose in the night. He would 
not leave his wife and child in the hands of his 
enemy; so he took his knife, and stabbed his 
squaw and little one to the heart. Not a groan 
was heard, for he well knew where to apply the 
poignard. He went and shot down the sentinel, 
rushed upon the superior officers, was shot, and 
perished like a warrior, in an attempt to wipe a 
stain from his honor. His men fled, and re¬ 
turned to their tribe, but it was to bring blood, 
carnage, and conflagration upon our settlements. 
They came not again as brothers to smoke the 
calumet of peace, but with brands in their hands 
to set fire to our houses. Contrast that with previ¬ 
ous years; contrast it with the harmony which 
had before existed, and you see the lamentable 
results of sending, as Indian agents, army 
officers, to take charge of Indians, men who know 
nothing about the Indian character. Sir, while 
people are seeking to civilize and Christianize 
men on the banks of the Ganges, or the Jordan, 
or in Burrampootah, why should not the same 
philanthropic influence be extended through soci- 


So Memoirs of a Senate Page 

ety, and be exerted in behalf of the American In* 
dians? Is not the soul of an American Indian, 
in the prairie, worth as much as the soul of a man 
on the Ganges, or in Jerusalem? Surely it is.” 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


SI 


VII. 

BUILDINGS ON THE MALL. 

Within recent years, encroachment upon the 
Mall has been attended with so little opposition, 
a few remarks by the chairman of the District 
Committee (A. G. Brown, of Miss.) on the mo¬ 
tion to reconsider the vote by which the location 
of the District armory was changed from the 
Mall to Judiciary Square, may be of interest. 

Mr. Brown: I do not mean to worry the Sen¬ 
ate with this question, though I really think it is 
of consequence. The site on which it is proposed 
to erect this building, as I remarked before, con¬ 
tains seventeen acres of ground, lying directly be¬ 
tween the Capitol and the Potomac river. This it is 
proposed to spoil, as I think, with this building 
and to give it up as a mere parade ground. The 
interests involved, in my opinion, greatly exceed 
the simple question of the $30,000 which happens 
to have been appropriated. If gentlemen will 
take the trouble to look into the past history of 
our legislation, they will find that when you 
erected your Treasury Department which is a na¬ 
tional building—it was put on the President’s 
Square. Why was it not placed on the Mall? 
Because at that day the President and those who 
had the location of that building believed it to be 


52 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

/ v • J 

right to preserve the Mall from encroachment 
At a later day, when you built the Patent Office 
why was not that put upon the Mall ? It was not 
done because the gentleman who had control of 
public affairs then thought that this reservation 
ought to be preserved. When you built your 
Post Office Department, why did you buy the 
ground on which it was erected, instead of taking 
the Mall which you owned ? 

My friend from California asks me—I hardly 
like to stop to answer such a question—why do 
we wish to preserve it? Sir, why does Philadel¬ 
phia pay large sums of money for public parks? 
Why has New York within the last twelve 
months paid $6,000,000 for a public park! Why 
is Boston Common to-day considered the beauty 
and glory of that ancient city? Because these 
reservations, in the course of time, as cities grow 
large and old, become the very lungs through 
which your population breathe. That is the rea¬ 
son why we wish to preserve this reservation. 
When you located your Military Asylum why 
did you not put it on the Mall? You selected a 
site in the neighborhood of this city and paid 
$50,000 for the ground on which to locate it. 
Two years ago, when you were about to locate 
the Lunatic Asylum, why was not that put there ? 
Then you paid a large sum of money for ground 
upon which to locate that building. Now, sir, 
when you are about to erect buildings for the 
War, State, and Navy Departments national 
buildings—why do you not put them there? It 
seems nothing is to go there but this poor, little 
miserable armory; and it is to be placed there be- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


53 


cause certain men desire to use the Mall as a 
parade ground for their holiday soldiers— 
ground which has been held sacred—which was 
first laid off by the Father of his Country, as I am 
prepared to show. I have the plan of the city 
signed by George Washington himself, with his 
own sign manual, laying off and preserving this 
ground for the public use. For fifty years it has 
been preserved intact, with two exceptions. You 
placed the Smithsonian Institution there, and I 
think it very much out of place. If I had been 
here at the time I should have opposed its being 
located there. 

You also provided for placing the Washington 
monument there, and you could not have put in 
a more proper place; but no building ought to 
have gone there. What will be the next plan sug¬ 
gested? Somebody will propose to put the mar¬ 
ket house there; and by and by somebody will 
wish to have the jail removed there. Then some 
one will wish the school houses to be put there, 
because it will make a pretty playground for the 
children; then you will have a blind asylum there, 
because the children will be able to get fresh air. 
Better reasons can be given for putting any of 
these buildings there than for desecrating this 
reservation by giving it up for a parade ground.” 

Mr. Hale’s remarks: 

“It is rarely that I have heard a speech with 
which I coincided so entirely and totally as the 
speech which fell to-day from the honorable Sen¬ 
ator from Mississippi (Mr. Brown). Now, I hope 
when we have such sage counsels from the chair¬ 
man of the committee who has the District of 


54 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

Columbia under his charge, we shall follow him 
and take his advice. When this Capitol shall be 
completed, we shall be under the necessity of 
buying at a very large expense portions of land 
which we once gave away, and which ought to be 
a part, and must be a part, of the grounds at¬ 
tached to the Capitol. When these wings are 
completed, you will have to buy at an enormous 
expense, land which we gave away for a mere 
song, or less than a song. Now, when we have 
seen what has been the result of our dealing with 
the public grounds here, I trust Congress will 
stay its hand, and not build an armory on this 
ground, which was intended to be public reserva¬ 
tion forever. If an armory is wanted, let it be 
put somewhere else than on that spot, which was 
intended for a public garden and for a public 
place of resort. That was intended to be a place 
for the display of the beauties and riches of na¬ 
ture, and not for the exhibitions of war. I wish 
to see no plumes waving there but those of Na¬ 
ture and her flowers. I trust what was intended 
to be an ornamental, public reservation, will not 
be disfigured by anything of this sort. I have not 
a word to say against the militia of the District. 
I hope they will have all the accommodation 
which they need; but I ask senators if they are 
willing to see these public parks and grounds, 
which we have been preserving and ornamenting 
at great expense, made a place for rendezvous of 
militia trainings? I trust not; but such will be 
the result if you do not prohibit the erection of 
buildings on this site. Compared with the use 
for which these grounds were intended, the ques- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 55 

tion of what little damages we shall have to pay 
the contractors, does not deserve to be taken into 
consideration. I would rather pay them the whole 
$30,000 than have them erect their structure on 
the ground from which this resolution proposes 
to remove it. I do not wish it to be there, and I 
would rather it were anywhere else than there. 
For this reason I shall vote against the reconsid¬ 
eration. Judiciary Square is already occupied. 
The City Hall is there, and the Infirmary or Hos¬ 
pital is there. The chairman of the committee 
says it is a convenient place on which to put this 
structure; and everybody who has been in the city 
for any length of time knows that the City Hall, 
which stands on Judiciary Square, is the general 
place for the rendezvous of the military com¬ 
panies of the District. 

Whenever I have heard the drums beating, 
calling the companies together, I think I have 
generally seen the gallant colonel of the volunteer 
militia of the District parading with his forces 
before the City Hall. They go there now when 
there is no armory, and they probably will go 
there when there is an armory.” 


56 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


VIII. 

romantic character of the great west 

INDIAN. 

He was peerless as an orator. To listen to him 
was like listening to music; he spoke with such 
ease, with such eloquence, and entirely without 
notes, save at times he might have a book or a 
single sheet from which he desired to quote. He 
engaged in all the important debates; and was a 
master in every maneuver of parliamentary art. 
He was senator from Louisiana—Judah P. Ben¬ 
jamin by name. Not only a great speaker, but a 
constitutional lawyer of mark; one of the best 
English scholars of his day, and a man of wide 
and tender sympathies. But aside from all this, 
his character was romantic to an exceptional de¬ 
gree. Romantic in the sense that it guided his 
life through so many strange and wonderful 
paths, and toward such high and noble objects. 

His parents were English Jews, who sailed 
from their native land with New Orleans as their 
destination. It was the year 1811 and the port of 
New Orleans was blockaded by the English fleet. 
So the passengers were landed in St. Croix, in 
the West Indies. Here, on this island fanned by 
tropical breezes, Judah was born. After some 
time the family came to the States, and at the 















p. 


BE.NJAMIM . 










V: ■*• V-V 
















Memoirs of a Senate Page 57 

age of 14, Judah entered Yale. Pie remained 
there three years, when he decided to go with his 
parents to New Orleans. In that city at the age 
of 21, he was admitted to the bar. He then en¬ 
gaged in practice for some years, but without 
signal success. At length producing the “Digest 
of Reported Decisions of the Supreme Court of 
the Territory of New Orleans/’ he began to 
mount the ladder of fame. He was soon after¬ 
ward admitted to practice before the United 
States Supreme Court, where he conducted his 
cases with such ability as to draw forth this tes¬ 
timonial from Chief Justice Taney: “Senator 
Judah P. Benjamin of Louisiana was first before 
the Supreme Court, and second before no other 
court in the country.” 

In a debate in the Senate, in June, 1858, he ex¬ 
changed some hot words with Jefferson Davis, 
the affair almost leading to a duel. Mr. Benja¬ 
min had questioned the interpretation of a cer¬ 
tain portion of a House bill of appropriation, 
which Mr. Davis answered with a sneer. 

Mr. Benjamin: It’s very easy for the Senator 
from Mississippi to give a sneering reply to what 
was certainly a very respectful inquiry. 

Mr. Davis: I considered it as an attempt to 
misrepresent a very plain remark. 

Mr. Benjamin: The Senator is mistaken, and 
has no right to state any such thing. His man¬ 
ner is not agreeable at all. 

Mr. Davis: If the Senator happens to find it 
disagreeable I hope he will keep it to himself. 

Mr. Benjamin: When directed to me I will not 
keep it to myself. I will repel it instanter. 


58 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

Mr. Davis: You have got it, sir. 

Mr. Benjamin: That is enough, sir. 

The day after this Mr. Davis apologized on 
the floor of the Senate. 

Mr. Davis: “When I used the expression which 
was taken to have been in a sneering tone, as to 
the $100,000 appropriation, it is due to myself 
and to others that I should say that there was 
nothing offensive intended, and I think it due to 
myself that I should say that I am incapable of 
committing a wanton aggression on the feelings 
of any man. I always feel pained, nay, more, I 
feel humiliated, when I am involved in any per¬ 
sonal controversy with anybody. It is my wish 
with every Senator to hold friendly and cordial 
relations. There is an infirmity which sometimes 
may involve me, when my attention is directed 
simply to the transaction of a public affair, into 
controversies which partake more or less of a 
personal character. I regret it whenever it oc¬ 
curs. Toward the Senator from Louisiana I had 
no other feelings than those of kindness and re¬ 
spect; it was not until I thought he exhibited 
anger toward myself that I felt it. Then it is 
true, I intended to be offensive. Anger is con¬ 
tagious; the manifestation of it by one is very 
apt to engender it in another. The whole transac¬ 
tion has been clearly presented by the Senator 
from Maryland, and I think it is due to the Sen¬ 
ate that I should say to them that neither on that 
nor upon any other occasion have I ever intended 
at any time to bring into the discussion of the 
Senate a feeling, if I had, which might be mani¬ 
fested outside of the chamber; and in response 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


59 


to the remarks of the Senator from Maryland, I 
have only to say, that if my manner is unfortu¬ 
nate, and it is sometimes, as my best friends have 
told me, of a character which would naturally 
impress others with the belief that I intended to 
be dogmatic and dictorial, it is the result of the 
characteristic of my mind, connected with the 
fact that I have not been trained to debate. My 
pursuits have not led one to minute discussions 
and when I get up to address the Senate, it is but 
simply to state a conviction; and when I am not 
matched with one as skillful, as acute by nature, 
and as trained by his profession, as the Senator 
from Louisiana, it is but natural that I should 
appear to have been the hasty man in the debate, 
whilst he must have the advantage resulting 
from that skill which his training gives.” 

Mr. Benjamin: “Mr. President, it is certainly 
a matter of no small embarrassment to reply pub¬ 
licly to the observations which have been made 
by the Senator from Mississippi as well as those 
of the Senator from Maryland. I think I may 
appeal with perfect confidence to my brother Sen¬ 
ators that upon no occasions have they observed 
in my deportment toward them in the Senate, 
anything but the most courteous manner. Pa¬ 
tient, myself, of any differences of opinion in 
debate, it is but natural that I expect a similar 
forebearance, on the part of others, and I have 
endeavored upon all ocasions, that my manner 
toward my brother Senators should be such that 
whilst we differ in opinion upon important sub¬ 
jects, there should be left no sting in the debates 
which might occur between us, that none but the 


6o 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


kindliest and best feeling may exist. I have 
listened with great satisfaction to the statement 
of the Senator from Mississippi. I think it does 
him honor, I will say, sir, that I was utterly sur¬ 
prised when I found him charging me yesterday 
with misrepresentations of his remarks. That 
surprise has been accounted for this morning by 
the statement made by the Senator from Mary¬ 
land. We were speaking of different papers; we 
were each advised of a different state of facts; 
and, under the circumstances, it is less surprising 
to me now than it was then, that the Senator 
from Mississippi could by any possibility have 
supposed that I was endeavoring to misrepresent 
his remarks. I will say further that I did feel at 
the time that there was an asperity, an undue 
asperity, in the manner and tone of the Senator 
from Mississippi toward me. Feeling so, it was 
but natural, as he himself has said, that I should 
express resentment, in relation to it, tempered, I 
trust, by the tone of dignity which ought always 
to be observed in the Senate, and by that respect 
for my fellow-members which it is my desire al¬ 
ways to manifest. I am very much gratified to 
hear this morning that his feelings toward me 
have been such always as he has stated. I am 
sure I have had for him none but sentiments of 
esteem, and I may add, candidly, admiration. I 
say it without flattery. I shall be very happy to 
forget everything that has occurred between us, 
except the pleasant passage of this morning.” 

Mr. Hayne (South Carolina) : “I arise, gentle¬ 
men, in the cause of humanity, to say but one 
word. I congratulate the Senate upon the arnica- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


ble manner in which this business has been ac¬ 
commodated ; and I would say but a single word, 
especially in reference to my young friends. 
Whenever they are called to the field, in a case 
like this, let them always select sensible seconds, 
as their friends, who in the first instance, must 
decide whether blood ought to be spilt; and if 
blood ought not to be spilt the responsibility will 
be upon the seconds. That is all, sir.” 

When the provisional government of the Con¬ 
federacy was started in its course, in February, 
1861, Jefferson Davis appointed Mr. Benjamin to 
his cabinet as Attorney General. The with¬ 
drawal of the State of Louisiana from the Union 
had been formally proclaimed by Mr. Slidell. 
However the leave-taking of Mr. Benjamin, in a 
speech delivered February 4, 1861, was notable. 

Rebellion! the very word is a confession; an 
avowal of tyranny, outrage and oppression. It 
is taken from the despots code, and has no terror 
for other than slavish souls. When, sir, did mil¬ 
lions of people, as a single man, rise in organized, 
deliberate, unimpassioned rebellion against just¬ 
ice, truth, and honor? . . . Traitors! Treason! 
ay, sir, the people of the South imitate the glory 
in such treason as glowed in the soul of Hamp¬ 
den; just such treason as leaped in living flame 
from the impassioned lips of Henry; just such 
treason as encircles with a sacred halo the undy¬ 
ing name of Washington! ... 

Great God! sir, since when has the necessity 
arisen of recalling to American legislators the 
lessons of freedom taught in lisping childhood by 
loving mothers; that pervade the atmosphere we 


62 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


have breathed from infancy; that so form part 
of our very being, that in the absence we would 
lose the consciousness of our own identity! 
Heaven be praised that all have not forgotten 
them; and when we shall have left these fami¬ 
liar halls, and when force bills, blockades, armies, 
navies, and all the accustomed coercive appliances 
of despots shall be proposed and advocated, voices 
shall be heard from this side of the chamber that 
will make its very roof resound with the indignant 
clamour of outraged freedom. . . . 

And now to you Mr. President, and to my 
brother Senators on all sides of the Chamber, 
I bid a respectful farewell; with many of those 
from whom I have been radically separated in po¬ 
litical sentiment, my personal relations have been 
kindly, and have inspired me with a respect and 
esteem that I shall not willingly forget; with 
those around me from the Southern States, I 
part as men part from brothers on the eve of a 
temporary absence,—but to you, noble and gener¬ 
ous friends, who, from beneath other skies, pos¬ 
sess hearts that beat in sympathy with ours; to 
you, who have made our cause your cause, and 
from many of whom I feel I part forever, what 
shall I, can I, say? Naught, I know and feel, is 
needed for myself; but this I will say for the peo¬ 
ple in whose name I speak to-day; whether pros¬ 
perous or adverse fortunes await you, one 
priceless treasure is yours—the assurance that 
our entire people honor your names, and 
hold them in grateful and affectionate mem¬ 
ory. But with still sweeter and more touching 
return shall your unselfish devotion be rewarded. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 63 

When in after days, the story of the present 
shall be written; when history shall have passed 
her stern sentence on the erring men who have 
driven their unoffending brethren from the shel¬ 
ter of their common home, your names will derive 
fresh luster from the contrast; and when your 
children shall hear repeated the familiar tale, 
their very souls will stand a-tiptoe as they glory 
in their lineage from men of spirit as generous 
and of patriotism as high hearted as ever illus¬ 
trated or adorned the American Senate. 

Mr. Benjamin held three portfolios at different 
times, and lastly that of Secretary of State. He 
was universally declared “the brains of the Con¬ 
federacy/’ Upon the flight of the President and 
his cabinet, the cause having been lost, we see the 
great West Indian—we cannot refrain from call¬ 
ing him that—separated from the party and es¬ 
caping in a little open boat off the coast of Flor¬ 
ida. Gone forever from the land where he had 
risen to such eminence, where his name had been 
so much honored, he was now a wanderer upon 
the face of the globe, with no home, no country, 
no aims. One thing only was his solace—the 
star of hope, hope born of a nature too transcend¬ 
ent to allow any change or chance of fortune to 
wreck his gallant career. He landed on the beach 
somewhere in the Bahama Islands, and eventually 
sailed to Bermuda, from whence he took passage 
on a steamer bound for Liverpool. In England 
he made his permanent residence, and though 
fifty years of age, was not too disspirited to be¬ 
gin the study of English law. He became a 


*54 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

student at Lincoln’s Inn, and consequently and 
unavoidably a master in English law. 

His wife and children resided in Paris, while 
he plodded along in London with a half-respecta¬ 
ble legal practice. But all this while he was pre¬ 
paring a work which he published under the title, 
“A Treatise on the Law of Sale of Personal Prop¬ 
erty,” which was adopted as an authority on that 
subject in the English courts. His success was 
now guaranteed, he became queen’s counsel, his 
arguments were noted, and he soon decided to 
appear in cases solely before the House of Lords 
and the Privy Council. 

Finally in 1883, his health failing, he retired to 
Paris to spend the remainder of his life with his 
family there. On the occasion of his departure 
from London, he was tendered a farewell ban¬ 
quet at the Inner Temple, which was a notable 
event. Thus is completed the story of this un¬ 
usual man. Truly as Jefferson Davis said of him, 
he was “a Hebrew with Egyptian principles.” In 
him the flexibility of the Jew was combined with 
qualities that come only by inspiration and illum¬ 
ination such as are so extraordinary in the mys¬ 
terious “man of the Nile Valley/’ 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


65 


IX. 

THE QUESTION OF CHAPLAINS. 

On December 7, 1857, which was the first day 
of the session (of the 35th Congress), a resolu¬ 
tion was offered to change the former mode of 
selecting a regular chaplain for the Senate. The 
custom had been to agree upon some clergyman 
of Washington, who officiated at the opening of 
each day’s session; but for divers reasons many 
senators became dissatisfied, and after some dis¬ 
cussion adopted the plan of inviting the clergy 
of the District of Columbia in general, without 
regard to creed, to officiate in turn. 

There was much interest manifested in this 
arrangement. The plan operated in such a way 
as to provide one day, for example, an Episco¬ 
palian, the next day a Roman Catholic, or a Jew¬ 
ish Rabbi, and went the rounds of all the denomi¬ 
nations. I remember seeing ecclesiastics in the 
black robe of the Jesuit, others in the white robe 
of the Dominican, and still others vested or not 
vested according to their church authority. 

The discussion was opened by Jacob Collamer, 
or Judge Collamer, of Vermont, whose gravity 
and weight of character always controlled more 
ardent natures and caused him to be called “The 
Nestor of the Senate.” 


66 


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The resolution was offered by Senator Mason, 
of Virginia. 

Mr. Collamer. This resolution requests the 
President to invite all clergymen to whom the 
office may be acceptable to officiate as Chaplains. 
It seems to me that it will be somewhat imprac¬ 
ticable to carry it out and that it will give a great 
deal of trouble to our President. The office might 
be acceptable to clergymen from every part of 
the Union visiting friends here, and that would 
be constantly interfering with any arrangements 
which might be made with the clergymen of the 
city on whom we could rely. If we relied on the 
clergymen of the city, they could arrange among 
themselves the order in which they should offi¬ 
ciate; whereas, if the invitation be extended to all 
clergymen, we never can know when they are to 
attend and when not. I therefore move that the 
words, “of the City of Washington” be inserted 
after the word, “clergymen.” 

Mr. Mason. It would be better to insert the 
words, “of the District of Columbia.” 

Mr. Collamer. I have no objection to that. 

Mr. Mason. I accept the modification. I have 
no choice in the matter one way or the other. I 
offered the resolution in order that we might dis¬ 
pose in this general way of the subject of a Chap¬ 
lain to the Senate. Every Senator, I have no 
doubt, has had some experience (I think it is very 
unfortunate, but perhaps it is incident to the sub¬ 
ject matter) that a sort of competition has grown 
up by the usage of the Senate in electing a Chap¬ 
lain, which I have thought is not altogether con¬ 
sistent with the office of a clergyman or a pastor. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 67 

I will not say, by any means, a competition so 
much among the clergymen themselves, perhaps, 
as amongst Senators, who desire to prefer partic¬ 
ular persons; but the fact is that it has become a 
matter of that kind, and it is not entirely agree¬ 
able to me, certainly, and I dare say is not to 
other Senators, to have that state of affairs exist¬ 
ing. 

My idea of the practice that will arise under 
this resolution, especially now, since it is confined 
to the clergymen of the District of Columbia, is 
that the President of the Senate, at the com¬ 
mencement of each session of Congress, will sub¬ 
mit to the clergymen of the District that those to 
whom the office may be agreeable shall arrange 
among themselves and prescribe the mode in 
which they shall alternate, in order that we may 
have their services every morning as usual, and 
that the service so proffered shall be gratuitous— 
which is the true footing, I have always under¬ 
stood, of a clergymen's position. Whether there 
may not be a proper acknowledgment of the ser¬ 
vices of these gentlemen at the end of the session, 
every Senator will decide for himself. My own 
opinion is fixed on that point. 

Mr. Biggs. Mr. President, I understand, from 
the remarks of the honorable Senator from Vir¬ 
ginia, that the design and object of this resolu¬ 
tion is substantially to abolish the office of Chap- 
lan as it has heretofore existed under the prac¬ 
tice of the Senate, and to invite the clergymen of 
this District to open the daily sessions of this 
House with prayer. I am apprehensive, however, 
that there may be some difficulty in attaining this 


68 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

object, on account of the wordings of the resolu¬ 
tion. I am glad the Senator from Virginia has 
introduced the resolution. It seems to be a very 
appropriate one, in view of all the circumstances 
that surround the Senate and the practice that has 
heretofore obtained on the subject. I would sug¬ 
gest, however, in order to avoid any difficulty 
hereafter, that the resolution be amended so as to 
attain, beyond all doubt, what is desired by my¬ 
self, as well as, I believe, by the Senator from 
Virginia, by adding to it the words: “And that 
the office of Chaplain of the Senate is hereby 
abolished.” 

Mr. Mason. I do not understand that there is 
any such office as Chaplain to the Senate. 

I do not remember whether there is a rule on 
the subject; but the usage of the Senate has been 
(in conformity, I suppose, to the general public 
opinion of the land) that our duties here should 
be commenced by a proper appeal to the Almighty 
every morning; but I do not look upon it as an 
office. I certainly do not at all contemplate inter¬ 
fering with the usage of opening our delibera¬ 
tions in the morning with Divine services; but on 
the contrary, to continue it and place it on what 
seems to me a more reputable and more proper 
footing. If the honorable Senator were to offer a 
proposition to abolish the office, it would perhaps 
engender some difference of opinion among Sen¬ 
ators which I would rather avoid. 

Mr. Biggs. My object is precisely the same as 
that of the Senator from Virginia. I am decid¬ 
edly with him as to the manner of opening the 
daily sessions with prayer. I think it is entirely 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


69 


proper. But if I understand the usage of the 
Senate connected with the rules of this body and 
some joint resolutions that have been passed by 
both Houses, the office of Chaplain is recognized. 
So far as I am concerned, my object will be at¬ 
tained if the effect of this resolution will be to 
rid us of the office without introducing any 
amendment at all—and I understood the Senator 
from Virginia in the resolution designs that. That 
being the design and effect of the resolution, my 
obj ect is accomplished. 

Mr. Mason. If there be any rule in relation to 
the Chaplain, I ask that the Chair direct it to be 
read; and if it be inconsistent with his resolution, 
I propose to repeal it. 

Mr. Hamlin. There is a joint rule on the sub¬ 
ject between the two Houses. 

The Secretary. It is a provision passed at each 
session. 

The President pro tempore. The Chair is not 
aware of any rule for the joint action of both 
Houses on this subject. 

Mr. Mason. I was not. 

Mr. Clay. I am opposed to the adoption of 
this resolution, believing, as I do, that it will 
prove both unwise and inexpedient in practice. 
The Senator from North Carolina, as I under¬ 
stand him, contemplates procuring the services of 
a Chaplain without any remuneration whatever. 
I do not so understand the Senator from Vir¬ 
ginia. I think we should not “muzzle the ox that 
treadeth out the corn.” I believe that “the la¬ 
borer is worthy of his hire” I think we shall find 
if we adopt this resolution, and it shall be con- 


70 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


strued as it is understood by the Senator from 
North Carolina, that patriotism will fail, that 
even religion will fail, to induce men to come 
here every day gratuitously to pray for this body. 
I think, if we intend and desire to have the ses¬ 
sions of this body opened with daily prayer, we 
can only achieve that desire by employing and 
paying a man for that purpose. I do not myself 
see any serious objection to that. In these de¬ 
generate days, I know none of the clergy who 
live purely by charity, who take their staff and 
walk abroad, getting their daily meals and their 
clothing, as wayfaring men, from every good Sa¬ 
maritan they may meet. I know, in my own 
State, that all the stationed clergy receive regular 
salaries or compensation for their services. I 
understand that it is so in this city. What right 
have we to expect that the clergymen of this 
city, purely for the honor of the thing or purely 
for the sake of serving God, will come here and 
open our sessions with service without any com¬ 
pensation whatever? There is an old adage, and 
a very true one, that “what is everybody’s busi¬ 
ness is nobody’s business.” And if we adopt the 
resolution of the gentleman from Virginia, and 
empower you, sir, or the Vice-President, to in¬ 
vite the clergymen of this city generally to offi¬ 
ciate, we shall find that oftentimes we shall have 
to go to work without prayers. I trust that the 
resolution will not be adopted. 

Mr. Seward. Mr. President, I hope the hon¬ 
orable Senator who last addressed the Senate will 
reconsider the opinion he has formed on this sub¬ 
ject, and suffer this resolution to pass. I have 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


7 1 


felt ever since I have been here, that it brought 
scandal on the cause of the Christian religion to 
have an active canvass here for Chaplain. And I 
am very glad that there is a mode proposed by 
which that scandal can be hereafter removed. 

The form which is suggested by the Senator 
from Virginia commends itself entirely to my 
approbation; and the more so because to me it is 
not new. So long as I have been acquainted with 
public affairs in the State of New York, or for 
nearly all that period—certainly for fifteen or 
twenty years—there has been no single appoint¬ 
ment of a chaplain by the Legislature of New 
York; but each House of the Legislature, either 
severally or the two houses together, pass a reso¬ 
lution substantially like this, intimating their de¬ 
sire that the clergyman of the City of Albany, 
the State capital, to be designated by the presid¬ 
ing officer or officers, shall alternately perform 
this religious service for the two Houses, at such 
times and under such arrangement as may be 
agreeable to them. 

The difficulty which is suggested by the honor¬ 
able Senator from Alabama does not exist there, 
because their resolution always closes with a pro¬ 
vision that the usual amount per diem shall be 
distributed amongst the clergymen who perform 
the service, in proportion to the number of days 
they attend. Such an amendment to this resolu¬ 
tion would remove from it all objection, and 
would be perfectly proper. For once, I should 
have no objection to it; but, at the same time, I 
am quite willing that that part of the subject 
shall be postponed until we have made an experi- 


72 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

ment of the new mode; and then, at the close of 
the session, an appeal can be made to the Senate 
in regard to the chaplains. I have no doubt it will 
be responded to as well at the end of the session 
as at the commencement. My desire is that the 
old system shall be changed, and I am quite 
willing to adopt the one now proposed. 

Mr. Mason. Perhaps it is becoming, having 
offered the resolution, that I should say a single 
word in reply to the honorable Senator from Ala¬ 
bama. I have not conferred with the clergymen 
of the city of Washington or the District at all. 
I did show what I proposed to do to the reverend 
and excellent gentleman who was Chaplain at the 
last session (Rev. Wm. Hill), who happened to 
be present, who is one of the clergymen of this 
city, and he said he was satisfied it would be con¬ 
sidered a compliment, and a very grateful one to 
the clergy of the District. I have just learned, 
what I am told is an undoubted fact, that the first 
clergyman who officiated in the Continental Con¬ 
gress, was the late Bishop White of Pennsyl¬ 
vania, and he did it on the express condition that 
no compensation should be offered. 

I think, appreciating as I do the office of a 
clergyman—although they are a class of our fel¬ 
low citizens with whom it has not been my for¬ 
tune to be very much connected in any way, but 
I do appreciate their office—it will be peculiarly 
acceptable to the clergymen if presented in this 
form. 

The President pro tern put the question on the 
resolution, and it was adopted. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


73 


X. 

DOUGLAS: THE DEMOSTHENES OF THE SENATE. 

I can see him now as he sat there in that seat. 
He had a massive head covered with rich brown 
hair, a high forehead and deep-set eyes that were 
dark and full of fire. His complexion was 
healthy; he was smooth shaven, had a clean-cut 
mouth, square chin, and lines that gave him an 
expression of sadness. He was broad-shouldered, 
and deep-chested; a little below the average 
height; and his voice of baritone pitch and ex¬ 
tremely pleasing. 

In debate he was unconquerable. With the 
rapidity of lightning, his alert mind perceived the 
strength or weakness of a point, and when he was 
unable to turn an argument to his own advantage 
he would hopelessly befog it for anyone else. 
Without ornament of speech, he was master of 
rugged English; he never halted, never used a 
simile, never fell back on parallels of ancient his¬ 
tory. Stephen A. Douglas, of Illinois, was an¬ 
other Demosthenes. 

We read that Demosthenes was vehement in 
reasoning, but was without any appearance of 
art. He railed against Philip of Macedon, boldly, 
defiantly, and with the spirit of freedom. He was 
the foremost man in the State; his principal fame 


74 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


resting upon his great orations. The likeness be¬ 
tween the two statesmen, the ancient and modern, 
is apparent, particularly in their style of oratory. 

Douglas was called the “Little Giant” because 
of his marvelous ability and comparatively small 
person. At the threshold of his Congressional 
career, which began in the House of Representa¬ 
tives, he became the object of all eyes. Socially 
he was undrilled; nevertheless, with his keen ob¬ 
servation, his sense of proportion, and natural wit, 
he soon took rank in Washington society. He 
liked better to be with men, though, ana to feel 
the touch of comradeship. He would even grow 
to call them by their first names. One day going 
up to Mr. Beverly Tucker, the prominent Vir¬ 
ginian, he put his arm upon his shoulder, and 
said, in his outspoken way, “Bev, old boy, I love 
you.” “Douglas,” he returned, “will you always 
love me?” “Yes, I will/ “But,” persisted 
Tucker, “will you love me when you get to be 
President ?” “I will. What will you want me to 
do for you?” “Well,” said Tucker, “when you 
get to be President, all I want you to do for me is 
to pick some public office, a nice one, and put 
your arm around my neck, just as you are doing 
now, and call me Bev.” It is needless to say that 
Mr. Douglas enjoyed the humor of Mr. Tucker’s 
remarks. That would be putting it mildly. 

Stephen A. Douglas was born in Vermont, in 
1813, a descendant of true American stock. The 
family, however, was of Scotch origin, as the 
name implies, and was such stock as helped to 
make our land what it is in robust strength. 

His grandfather fought with Washington, and 



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Memoirs of a Senate Page 75 

was with him that hard winter at Valley Forge. 
When Stephen was an infant, his father died. He 
then, with his widowed mother, went to live with 
an uncle on a New England farm. He grew up 
a delicate child. Not having the means of acquir¬ 
ing an academic education, and seeing the future 
to hold naught for him save what he could get out 
of it by dint of hard labor, he trudged one day to 
a small town and apprenticed himself to the trade 
of cabinetmaking. Little did he dream that an¬ 
other day not very far distant when in the zenith 
of his powers, he would be in the race to become 
the maker of cabinets of men. 

He abandoned his chosen trade after two years, 
on account of his health, which was not hardy 
enough for the demands made upon it. Some 
time afterwards he headed West and resolved 
never to turn back until he could show evidences 
of success. Eventually settling in Illinois, and 
taking up the practice of law, for which he had 
prepared in the office of a Mr. Andrews, in 
Cleveland, he made so decided a success as to 
open for himself a public career that placed him 
at the age of thirty in the United States Senate. 

Through all the hardships of his early life, and 
later in his wanderings through the West, he was 
good-humored and hopeful. In the year 1843, 
Mr. Douglas was elected to Congress. As a rep¬ 
resentative from that progressive State, he had 
her every interest at heart, but refrained from 
entering the debates of the House. However, 
with an eye to the future, he watched carefully, 
absorbed much, and was heard speaking to some 
purpose in the years following. 

In the Senate, March 20, 1856, as chairman of 


76 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

the Committee on Territories, he introduced the 
bill “to authorize the people of the Territory of 
Kansas to form a constitution and State govern¬ 
ment, preparatory to their admission into the 
Union, when they have the requisite population.” 

Mr. Douglas said: 

Mr. President: I will ask the indulgence of 
the Senate for such length of time as the subject 
may require, provided my strength does not fail 
me, while I submit some views in vindication of 
the majority report. ... In the first place, 
however, as we have taken up for consideration 
the bill reported by the Committee on Territories. 
... I shall give a brief exposition of the pro¬ 
visions and principles of the bill. 

The first section provides that, when the Ter¬ 
ritory of Kansas shall contain ninety-three thou¬ 
sand four hundred and twenty inhabitants, to be 
ascertained by a census taken in conformity with 
law, a convention may be called by the legislature 
of the Territory to form a constitution and State 
government. . . . 

I have been absent for the reason that the state 
of my health did not render it prudent for me to 
be present, and for the further reason that it had 
been distinctly understood and unanimously 
agreed after a brief discussion, that all further 
discussion of the subject should be postponed for 
one week, and then to be resumed on the bill now 
under consideration, when according to the cour¬ 
tesies of the Senate, as well as the rules of par¬ 
liamentary proceedings, I would be entitled to 
open the debate as the author of the report and 
bill, and the Senator from Vermont (Mr. Col- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


77 


lamer), as the author of the minority report, 
would be entitled to reply, after which the sub¬ 
ject would be open for free discussion by any 
senator who might desire to participate in it. 


7* 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


XI. 

ON THE ADMISSION OF KANSAS. 

The debate on the question of admission of 
Kansas was so protracted, and the feeling on both 
sides so bitter, that it must be acknowledged the 
contest was one of the chief causes that led ulti¬ 
mately to secession and the Civil War. 

The question was how Kansas should be admit¬ 
ted. Should it come in with “outlaw slavery” or 
not? Should it come in with its own constitution, 
if that constitution favored slavery? Abolition¬ 
ists were strongly opposed to its admission if it 
proved thereby an extension of slavery in the 
Union; whereas the slaveholding South arrayed 
all her forces in battle line to conduct the new 
State into the Union as a sister, or kindred State. 
Mr. Douglas fought with all his courage, which 
was colossal, to allow “State sovereignty.” If 
the constitution embodied slavery, and was the 
zvill of the people , it should be upheld, and he 
stood ready to uphold it. 

President Pierce had yielded to the pressure 
brought to bear by the slaveholding element, and 
in his message to Congress antagonized the anti¬ 
slavery contestants. Senator Seward took up the 
cause of abolition, and in the course of his speech, 
April 9, said: 

“In like manner the President assails and stig- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 79 

matizes those who defend and maintain the cause 
of Kansas as “men of narrow views and sec¬ 
tional purposes engaged in those wild and 
chimeral schemes of social change which are gen¬ 
erated one after another in the unstable minds of 
visionary sophists and interested agitators”— 
“mad men, raising the storm of frensy and fac¬ 
tion,” “sectional agitators,” “enemies of the Con¬ 
stitution, who have surrendered themselves far 
as to a fanatical devotion to the supposed inter¬ 
ests of the relatively few Africans in the United 
States, as totally to abandon and disregard the 
interests of the twenty-five millions of Ameri¬ 
cans, and trample under foot the injunctions of 
moral and constitutional obligation, and to en¬ 
gage in plans of vindictive hostility against those 
who are associated with them in the enjoyment 
of the common heritage of our free institution.” 
Sir, the President’s defence on this occasion, if 
not a matter simply personal, is at least one of 
temporary and ephemeral importance. 

Possibly, all the advantages he will gain by 
transferring to his accuser, a portion of the popu¬ 
lar prejudice against abolition and abolitionists 
can be spared to him. It would be wise, however, 
for those whose interests are inseparable from 
slavery, to reflect that abolition will gain an 
equivalent benefit ftom the identification of the 
President’s defence with their cherished institu¬ 
tion. Abolition is a slow but irrepressible upris¬ 
ing of principles of natural justice and human¬ 
ity, obnoxious to prejudice, because they conflict 
inconveniently with existing material, social and 
political interests. It belongs to others than 


8o Memoirs of a Senate Page 

statesman, charged with the case of present in¬ 
terests, to conduct the social reformation of man¬ 
kind in its broadest bearing. I leave to Aboli¬ 
tionists their own work of self-vindication. I 
may, however, remind slaveholders that there is 
a time when oppression and persecution cease to 
be effectual against such movements; and then 
the odiom they have before unjustly incurred be¬ 
comes an element of strength and power. 

Christianity, blindly maligned during three cen¬ 
turies by Pretors, Governors, Senates, Councils, 
and Emperors, towered above its enemies in a 
fourth; and even the Cross on which its Foun¬ 
der had expired, and which therefore was the em¬ 
blem of its shame, became the sign under which it 
went forth evermore thereafter, conquering and 
to conquer. Abolition is yet in its first century. 
The president raises in his deference a false issue, 
and elaborates an irrevelant argument to prove 
that Congress has no right or power, nor has any 
sister State any right or power, to interfere 
within a slave State by legislation, or force to 
abolish slavery therein—as if you, or I, or any 
other responsible man, ever maintained the con¬ 
trary. The President distorts the Constitution 
from its simple text, so as to make it expressly 
and directly defend, protect, and guarantee Afri¬ 
can slavery. Thus he alleges that “the Govern¬ 
ment” which resulted from the Revolution was 
a federal Republic of the free white men of the 
colonies; whereas, on the contrary, the Declara¬ 
tion of Independence asserts the political equality 
of all men; and even the Constitution itself care¬ 
fully avoids any political recognition not merely 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 8i 

of slavery, but of the diversity of races. The 
President represents the Fathers as having con¬ 
templated and provided for a permanent increase 
of the number of slaves in some of the States, 
and therefore forbidden Congress to touch slav¬ 
ery in the way of attack or offense, and as having 
therefore also placed it under the general safe¬ 
guard of the Constitution; whereas the Fathers, 
by authorizing Congress to abolish the African 
slave trade after 1808, as a means of attack, in¬ 
flicted on slavery in the States a blow, of which 
they expected it to languish immediately, and 
ultimately to expire. 


Mr. Douglas was in the center of the fight all 
the time. He spoke defiantly as follows: 


I do not intend to prolong this debate. I wish 
to bring these gentlemen to the test. When they 
taunt us with being cut down, one by one, gradu¬ 
ally but certainly diminishing until we shall have 
been swept away, all we ask of you is to bring 
your men up to the fine; stand up to your princi¬ 
ples; redeem your pledges. You need not trou¬ 
ble yourself about finding a man the standard 
bearer on our side, who is not thoroughly com¬ 
mitted to our creed on all points. You need not 
fear that our candidate will not stand firmly and 
immovably upon the Kansas bill. 

You need not have any fear that he will not 
take issue with you on every one of the points 
which you tender—“No more slave States,” “the 


82 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

abolition of the slave trade between the States,” 
and the “abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia.” Upon each and all of them you need 
have no fear that our candidate will not stand 
firmly, immovably and unequivocally upon the 
Democratic platform. 

Give us a man for your standard bearer who is 
in like identified with your side of each of these 
issues. Do not take a man uncommitted, with the 
hope of getting votes from both sides, and then 
cheating somebody. Why point to the deserters 
from the Democratic ranks who have become 
your leaders, as evidence that you are Demo¬ 
crats? You might as well talk of the Christianity 
of Omer Pasha because he was Christian before 
he apostatized and turned Turk. By this preten¬ 
sion you confess that you are in the wrong. You 
claim as a merit that the deserters from our 
ranks to yOurs were once as pure and patriotic as 
we now are. I wish to understand the precise 
position. Does the merit consist in the fact that 
you were once Democrats or does it consist in the 
fact that you have since betrayed your party and 
your principles ? Is it the Democracy which you 
once had, but have since lost, or is it the deser¬ 
tion, which constitutes your high claims to popu¬ 
lar favor ? It seems even now, that you are more 
proud of what you once were than what you are 
now. 

That is the argument. I was in hopes that you 
had faith enough in the justice of your own 
cause and consciousness of its strength and in¬ 
herent truth, to be able to stand upon that, and 
to make it a matter of pride and boast, as the 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 83 

Senator from New York did the other day, when 
he said he was an Abolitionist. The Senator, 
however, gave us an illustration which, perhaps, 
may be satisfactory to him, but I am afraid will 
not be entirely so to all the members of his party. 
He reminded us that, while it took Christianity 
three centuries to be recognized by the princes of 
Europe, and while he argued that abolitionism 
was as certain to triumph as Christianity, yet this 
was but the first century of Abolitionism. Allow 
me to tell the Senator from New York that he 
disappointed the expectations of some of his fol¬ 
lowers when he intimated to them that they must 
wait two hundred years longer before they tri¬ 
umphed and got possession of the spoils of gov¬ 
ernment. (Laughter.) If the Senator is aiming 
at the reputation of being a martyr to his cause, 
I think he is adopting the proper course; and 
when I am sure it is only at the honors of martyr¬ 
dom that he is aiming, I shall be better reconciled 
to his position. 

Although I have no ambition to.be considered 
a martyr, I have respect for those who cherish 
such a hope; and I wish all these modern martyrs 
to remember that it is a fundamental principle of 
martyrdom, that no man shall seek his reward un¬ 
til two hundred years after his death! (Laugh¬ 
ter.) 

In that sense the Senator from New York did 
not object to be called an Abolitionist. He was 
looking to the honors of martyrdom and fancy¬ 
ing to himself how much he should enjoy at the 
time when they should be thrown upon him; but 
the Senator from Massachusetts seems to claim 


84 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

that they are to reap their reward now. I like 
that mode of fighting better. Let us have a fair 
issue now—an issue on principles and on men. 

. . . Let there be no endeavor to cover up the 
main issues under the irregularities which may 
have occurred at the election in Kansas. Let 
there be no equivocation upon the plea of dis¬ 
turbances of a temporary character that may have 
arisen here and there; but give us an issue on the 
great undying principles involved in the contest— 
the equality of the States—the right of self-gov¬ 
ernment everywhere under the Constitution—the 
right of each State to come into the Union, with 
slavery or without it, as it pleases—the right of 
the citizens of each State holding slaves to insist 
upon the return of fugitives, in obedience to the 
Constitution—the right of every man to enjoy 
every privilege, and insist upon the fulfillment of 
every obligation conferred or imposed by the 
Constitution. 

Again, let us have no equivocation in meeting 
the issue, whether a clause in the constitution of 
a new State, directing the Legislature to pass a 
particular law, is to be called a constitutional pro¬ 
vision, or by some other name. The Senator 
from Massachusetts tells us (following the lead 
of the Senator from New York the other day) 
that he is opposed to that clause which declares 
that a free negro shall never go into the new 
State of Kansas. He does not deny but that 
there was a provision submitted for decision at 
the time when the Constitution was adopted, 
whether negroes should be admitted to go there 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 85 

or not, it was decided in the negative by those 
who voted at the election. He does not deny, 
therefore, but that clause becomes a part of the 
constitution of Kansas in the event that Kansas 
is admitted with the Topeka constitution, but he 
says that clause is a barbarous provision, and he 
would like to know my opinion of it. I gave my 
opinion the other day. I stated that Illinois had 
a similar clause in her constitution; she had a 
right to put it there; it was our business, and not 
yours; and if Massachusetts does not like it let 
her do as she pleases within her own limits, so 
that she does not violate the Constitution of the 
United States. We do not believe in the equality 
of the negro, socially or politically with the white 
man. You may practise it, but do not try to force 
the negro on an equality with us in our State. 
Our people are a white people; our State is a 
white State; and we mean to preserve the white 
pure, without any mixture with the negro. 

If you wish your blood and that of the African 
mingled in the same channel, we trust that you 
will keep at a respectable distance from us, and 
not try to force that on us as one of your domes¬ 
tic institutions. (Laughter and applause in the 
galleries.) Now, sir, I am willing that the peo¬ 
ple of Kansas shall decide that question for them¬ 
selves, as they will have a right to do when they 
form their constitution, I hold that it is their 
right to do as they please, so that they do not 
violate the Constitution of the United States, and 
to come into the Union with such a constitution 
as they please. You say no. You say it is your 


86 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

right and duty, under the Constitution of the 
United States, to inspect the constitution of Kan¬ 
sas; and if you find slavery there, or any other 
obnoxious provision which creates an inequality 
between the negro and the white man, you will 
vote to exclude such State. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


87 


XII. 

DISSERTATIONS ON THE SLAVE. 

The affairs of Kansas, when stripped of all 
controversy upon constitutional questions, re¬ 
vealed in bold outline the one great, central ob¬ 
ject—the slave. 

This creature was held up to inspection from 
the viewpoints of physiology, psychology, and 
theology, by a senator from Iowa, Mr. Harlan, 
who was at his best and upon familiar ground; 
and he treated the subject with profound doc¬ 
trine gathered from many books, which, in for¬ 
mer years, had stood as walls around him, while 
he sat in the president’s chair in a Methodist in¬ 
stitution of learning. He spoke with some 
warmth as follows: 

The power of Congress to exclude slavery 
from all the Territories of the United States, not 
embraced within the limits of any State, being 
established or conceded, I enquire, secondly, 
whether this power ought to be exercised in the 
establishment of territorial governments where 
slavery did not previously exist? In the discus¬ 
sion of this proposition, I desire to probe the sub¬ 
ject to the core. I prefer to brush away the sur¬ 
face rubbish, and to lay the foundations of the 
superstructure on the solid rock. 


88 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


Is slavery right? Is it in accordance with the 
principles of natural justice? The time has been 
when very few in the country defended the moral 
right of one man to hold another in perpetual 
bondage. Its continuance hitherto has been de¬ 
fended by citing the difficulties that surrounded 
the question of emancipation. But the passage 
of the Kansas-Nebraska law has wrought a sad 
change, I fear, in the moral tone and temper of 
this discussion. Members of Congress now tell 
you that the enslavement of the African race by 
the Anglo-Saxon is no evil; that it is a blessing; 
that it is the natural condition of the two races; 
that an enlightened philanthropy requires the en¬ 
slavement of the African; that he belongs to an 
inferior race; that he cannot stand the shock of 
contact with his superiors; that annihilation is 
the only alternative. 

As the African is presented to my mind by the 
traveller and the historian and by personal obser¬ 
vation, I am compelled to admit the inferiority; 
but if the right of the Anglo-Saxon to enslave 
him depends on his manifest inferiority, it be¬ 
comes the duty of every Senator to examine 
closely the nature of that inferiority. Is it the 
result of the enslavement of his ancestry for 
more than a thousand years; or is it the natural 
specific difference developed in an analysis of the 
elementary laws of matter and of mind? 

In laying the foundation of new states, this 
problem is worthy of the careful attention of the 
proudest and wisest statesman on the floor of the 
American Senate; for in its solution he legislates, 
by its influence, for the whole human race— not 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 89 

only for the thousand millions of people that now 
live, but for the teeming millions as they shall 
continue to come and go while life shall last. 
That each may arrive at a correct decision of the 
nature of the admitted inferiority of the African 
to the Anglo-Saxon, I request Senators to allow 
me to refer them to their early elementary read¬ 
ing—to a succinct view of this subject, derived 
from standard writers on physical, mental, and 
moral science—from such works as are used in 
the colleges, academies, and seminaries of learn¬ 
ing all over the country—such works as are 
placed in the hands of the student of law, of 
medicine, and theology. 

Physiologists tell us that there is no specific 
difference in the physical structure of the two 
races, that the solid parts of their bodies are con¬ 
sisted of the same number of bones and joints, 
similarly located and distributed; that there is not 
a muscle, or tendon, or ligament, or vein, or 
artery, or secretion, or absorbent, or nerve of 
motion, or volition, found in the organism of one 
that does not exist in the other; that each pos¬ 
sesses the same senses of sight, of touch, of 
taste, of smelling and of hearing, that each pos¬ 
sesses the same specific means of mastication, 
digestion, and procreation. There are, however, 
physical differences. The skin of one is black— 
of the other white; the hair of one, fine and knot¬ 
ted—of the other, coarse and straight, the lips of 
one, thick and protruding, of the other, thin and 
compressed, and prespiratory exhaltations of the 
one are said to be more odorous than of the 
other. But these are all said to be superficial 


90 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

modifications of the same specific faculties and 
functions. No specific organ has been omitted 
or added. 

We are told by writers on mental science that 
the natural sensibilities are aroused in both by the 
use of the same organs; that the African and 
Anglo-Saxon alike experience pleasure in the 
mastication of food, in the inhalations of frag¬ 
rant odors, in the exercise of the sense of touch, 
in gazing at the beauties of creation, and in 
listening to the melody and harmony of sounds; 
that the same sounds and colors, and motions, 
and heights, and depths, and expanses, and mani¬ 
festations of power, that elevates the feelings of 
one to a key of grandeur or sublimity, overwhelm 
the other with kindred emotions. They tell us 
that in each they find the same specific desires, 
instincts, appetites and passion; that each may 
love, and hope, and fear, and hate—may be en¬ 
vious, jealous, and revengeful; that in each they 
discover the faculty of perception, of conception, 
of memory, of imagination, of belief, and of will; 
that each experience paternal, fraternal, and 
filial affection; that each experiences emotions of 
humanity, of patriotism, and of piety. 

From this physical and mental analysis, it will 
be perceived that each organ may be weaker in 
one race than in the other; but that in other re¬ 
spects they do not materially differ. The anat¬ 
omy of one is the anatomy of the other; the 
mental science that describes the laws of mind 
of the one delineates the spiritual nature of the 
other; the moral philosophy that analyzes the 
moral emotions of the one, reveals the moral fac- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page gi 

ulties of the other. All the laws of health and 
culture applicable to the one are applicable to the 
other. The same physician that prescribes for 
the African slave in his hovel, on a bed of straw, 
prescribes with equal success for his master, in a 
stately mansion, on a couch of down. The same 
minister of righteousness who soothes the sor¬ 
rows, and assuages the griefs, and energizes the 
hopes of the slave, when the shadows of death 
hover around him, administers, with equal suc¬ 
cess, the consolations of the same Gospel to the 
man of whiter skin. 

The manifest inferiority of the African to the 
Anglo-Saxon does not consist in a generic or 
specific difference. It is that kind of inferiority 
which doubtless the enlightened statesman would 
expect to find among the descendants of those 
who had been doomed to absolute servitude from 
time immemorial. His body is less symmetrical; 
his face less beautiful; his appeties, passions, in¬ 
stincts, and desires, less manageable; his percep¬ 
tions less acute; his perceptions less clear; his 
memory, consciousness, belief, powers of reason¬ 
ing and will, more feeble; his love of parents, of 
offspring, of man, of country, of truth, of honor, 
of justice, of God, less reliable. But is any one 
of these absent? If so, what element of manhood 
has been omitted? None; not one! “But if he 
is inferior to the white man in this sense”—if his 
body is weak, his mind feeble, his moral sensibili¬ 
ties obtuse—does that confer the right on the 
man of strong body—of vigorous intellect, and 
of acute moral sensibilities to seize, overawe, and 
enslave him? Is it might that determines the 


92 Memoirs oe a Senate Page 

right? Because you have the power, may you 
of right enslave your fellow men? Is this the 
voice of northern gallantry and southern chiv¬ 
alry ! 

It might do for Louis Napoleon, as he sits on 
a usurped throne, to claim the right, because he 
has the power to control the destinies of other 
men. It might do for Alexander, the Czar of 
Russia, as he sits enthroned where the old Wiz¬ 
ard of the North spirited the liberties of Europe, 
to make might the measure of right. But will it 
do for the American Senate to indorse and de¬ 
fend this doctrine of tyrants, discarded by our 
fathers—to place this country, in the eyes of the 
civilized nations, on the platform of the despots 
of the Old World, which has so long been the 
object of our ridicule and scorn? If not, you 
must return to the doctrine of the fathers of the 
Republic, and defend the weak against the 
aggressor of the resolute and powerful. It will 
not do to deny the privileges of freedom to all 
who are your inferiors in physical, mental and 
moral strength. Adopt this doctrine, and the 
Anglo-Saxon must proceed to enslave the world ; 
for he is now, doubtless, the strongest race on 
the globe. 

This treatment of the subject did not meet 
with general approbation, and his colleague, Mr. 
Jones, replied to him with some contrary state¬ 
ments. 

Mr. President:—In the discussion of the ques¬ 
tion of the equality of races, which my colleague, 
I believe, has been the first to introduce to the 
notice of the Senate, he seems to have volun- 


Memoirs oe a Senate Page 


93 


teered his aid to our political Abolitionists with 
an alacrity which indicates his consciousness of 
great powers to defend his position. Without in¬ 
quiring into the propriety or necessity of the dis¬ 
cussion, at this time and in this place, I shall en¬ 
deavor to show that there are established facts 
which prove the unsoundness of his views; but 
in doing so, I can not avoid feeling a kind of em¬ 
barrassment produced by a comparison, unfavor¬ 
able to myself, of the profound scientific, theo¬ 
logical, and legal attainments of my colleague, 
with my own humble pretensions. It is known to 
the Senate that I am a plain, practical man, and 
have passed my public life here in practical legis¬ 
lation, entertaining and encouraging no doctrines 
nor opinions which are revolting to the instincts 
of honest common sense, or opposed to those de¬ 
ductions which are drawn from the truth of his¬ 
tory. I must then oppose this common sense and 
those deductions, to my colleague’s scientific, the¬ 
ological and legal researches. 

In my limited historical reading I have failed 
to find any fact to sustain the opinions and be¬ 
lief of my colleague, that the negro race are cre¬ 
ated equal in powers of mind with the white. 
More than a thousand years ago, before our bar¬ 
barian ancestors received an impulse towards 
civilization by contact with the Romans, the ne¬ 
gro of Africa had had the advantage of observ¬ 
ing the most advanced and refined nations which 
then existed. He saw the learning and genius of 
Egypt, the refinement of Persia, the wisdom and 
glory of Greece and of Rome, long before the 
barbarous tribes of Britain, our ancestors 


94 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

emerged from their darkness by aid of the light 
which was held up to them by the new born on 
the banks of the Tiber. For a time extending 
further back than is noted upon the historic page, 
the negro has beheld the light of civilization—• 
but he has not followed it; and in his native land, 
the tribes who have given slaves to Europe, and 
America, are now what they have ever been. It 
would seem, indeed, that these tribes are the 
veritable descendants of Ham, cursed in his son 
Canaan by the Almighty, driven out from the 
presence of his father with the vengeance of God 
marked upon his brow and doomed to be the 
servant of servants forever. Mr. President, it is 
a truth that nature, in the munificence of her 
economy, withholds nothing from her children 
needful to their welfare; and we find that she 
has not bestowed upon the negro race a solitary 
historical character—not one. That race have 
had no poet to perpetuate their history—they 
have no history. The Greek, the Roman, the 
English, and many other nations, whose history 
can be traced back to barbarism and idolatry, 
have given to the world poets, statesmen, moral¬ 
ists, philosophers, mechanics, and inventors, 
whose labors are immortal. The black tribes of 
Africa have given nothing useful nor brilliant to 
the mental mind—and to this day they are the 
same stupid idolators that they were found to be 
when first visited by the Christian missionary; 
worshipping leaks, onions, snakes, and filthy in¬ 
sects, and looking upon the ourang-outang as 
the Jupiter of their lesser deities. The race has 
no history, except that of the providence of God, 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 95 

written by his servants, marking it out as the 
victim upon which the nations of the earth have 
alternately glutted their revenge and satiated 
their thirst for gain. At this time they are in a 
state of deeper degradation than any of the 
heathen nations of the earth. Without even the 
instincts of decency, they wander ungoverned, 
naked, and as filthy in their persons as the brute. 

This has been, as is now, their condition in 
their native country; and all efforts of Christian¬ 
ity for their benefit and enlightment have been 
abortive. No individuals of the race have ad¬ 
vanced a single step from their degradation and 
darkness except those who were placed in the 
condition now occupied by them in the Southern 
States. Here the gospel of Christ is elevating 
his hopes and illuminating his soul. Thus much 
for the history of the race as I have read it. 

My colleague having convinced himself of the 
mental equality of the negro and white man, ap¬ 
peals to the obligations of Christianity to protect 
the slave in his weakness. 


96 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


XIII. 

CHARLES SUMNER: ANTI-SLAVERY LEADER. 

The chief aim of Henry Wilson was the over¬ 
throw of slavery, and as one of the leaders of 
the North, he waged continual war upon the pro¬ 
slavery power. His colleague, Charles Sumner, 
at his side, fought fearlessly, unrelentingly. 
These two were the acknowledged captains of 
abolition. 

Classic Charles Sumner would have been far 
better pleased had he been left to his delightful 
studies, instead of being thrust into the savage 
fight in the United States Senate; but the State 
of Massachusetts demanded that he, with his 
masterful talents, should have a voice in the 
councils of the nation. 

Born at Boston (in 1811) of most excellent 
family; and graduated from Harvard, where he 
entered at the age of fifteen, and where he ex¬ 
celled in the classics and oratory, he was a splen¬ 
did representative of the conservative old com¬ 
monwealth. 

After graduation, he had pursued the study of 
law, and then to complete his education with 
higher polish, he had spent some time in France 
attending lectures by the most noted savants. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


97 


In Faneuil Hall, Boston, at a public meeting 
called to protest against the Fugitive Slave bill 
of 1850, he delivered an oration that was the 
most glowing, the most masterly, he had ever 
made. He described a famous painting by Tin¬ 
toretto. 

“There is a legend of the Church still living 
on the admired canvass of a Venetian artist, that 
Saint Mark, descending from the skies with 
headlong fury into the public square, broke the 
manacles of a slave in the very presence of the 
judge who decreed his fate. This is known as 
'the Miracle of the Slave,’ and grandly has art 
illumined the scene. Should Massachusetts here¬ 
after in an evil hour be desecrated by any such 
decree, may the good Evangelist once more de¬ 
scend with valiant arm to break the manacles of 
the slave.” 

The striking grace of the figure won the pub¬ 
lic heart, and Mr. Sumner always afterwards re¬ 
ferred to it as the speech that made him senator. 
A copy of this painting used to hang upon the 
wall of the dining-room in his Washington 
home. 

His speeches were always prepared with great 
care, for he was not a ready debater. While he 
presented his side of an argument with force, he 
polished and repolished every sentence before¬ 
hand. The boldness of his words drew forth 
much applause. One afternoon while he was 
making one of his sharp attacks, Mr. Douglas 
walking up and down behind the Vice-President’s 
desk, remarked to a friend: “Do you hear that 
man ? He may be a fool, but I tell you that man 


98 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

has pluck. I wonder whether he knows himself 
what he is doing? I am not sure whether I 
should have the courage to say those things to 
the men who are scowling around him.” 

Slightly over six feet in height, with broad 
figure and graceful bearing, Mr. Sumner was 
prepossessing to a degree. His features, like his 
nature, were classical; he wore no beard, except¬ 
ing a slight growth of side-whiskers; and his hair 
grew in masses over a handsome forehead. This 
graphic sketch of the man must suffice here; his 
distinguished character is well known among 
American readers. 

On May 19 and 20, 1856, after the debate on 
the Kansas bill had been opened, he delivered his 
speech, which became famous as “The Crime 
Against Kansas/’ The correspondent of the 
New York Evening Post, described it thus: 
“There is but one opinion among all competent 
judges as to the unexampled feast of eloquence 
which has been enjoyed in the Senate for the past 
two days, from the lips of Senator Sumner. . . . 
He has exhibited the most signal combination of 
oratorical splendors, which, in the opinion of a 
veteran senator, has ever been witnessed in that 
Hall. ... Not only were the galleries thronged 
to their utmost capacities with ladies and gentle¬ 
men, but all the doorways blocked up with listen¬ 
ers who hung in breathless suspense upon his 
eloquence.” . . . 

The speech, in part: 

Mr. President:—You are now called to re- * 
dress a great wrong. Seldom in the history of 
nations is such a question presented. « . . 



c H A p> t- E .S 


> 


SU MUER 





























4 












































Memoirs of a Senate Page 99 

Yes, sir, when the whole world, alike Christian 
and Turk, is rising to condemn this wrong, 
making it a hissing to the nations, here in our Re¬ 
public, force—ay, sir, force—is openly employed 
in compelling Kansas to this pollution, and all for 
the sake of political power. There is the simple 
fact, which you will vainly attempt to deny, but 
which in itself presents an essential wickedness 
that makes other public crimes seem like public 
virtues. 

In opening this great matter, I am not in¬ 
sensible to the austere demands of the occasion; 
but the dependence of the crimes against Kan¬ 
sas upon the slave power is so peculiar and im¬ 
portant that I trust to be pardoned while I im¬ 
press it by an illustration which to some may 
seem trivial. It is related in northern mythology, 
that the God of Force, visiting an enchanted re¬ 
gion, was challenged by his royal entertainer to 
what seemed a humble feat of strength—merely 
—Sir, to lift a cat from the ground. The God 
smiled at the challenge and calmly placing his 
hand under the belly of the animal with superhu¬ 
man strength strove, while the back of the feline 
monster arched far upwards even beyond reach, 
and one paw actually forsook the earth, when at 
last the discomfitted divinity desisted; but he was 
little surprised at his defeat, when he learned that 
this creature, which seemed to be a cat, was not 
merely a cat, but that it belonged to, and was a 
part of the great Terrestrial Serpent which in its 
innumerable folds encircled the whole globe. 
Even so the creature whose paws are now 
fastened upon Kansas, whatever it may seem to 


100 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


be, constitutes in reality part of the slave power, 
with it loathsome folds now coiled about the 
whole land. Thus do I exhibit the extent of the 
whole contest, where we encounter not merely 
local resistance, but alas the unconquered sus¬ 
taining arm behind. But from the vastness of 
the crime attempted, with all its woe and shame, 
I derive well-founded assurance of commen¬ 
surate effort by the aroused masses of the coun¬ 
try, determined not only to vindicate right against 
wrong, but to redeem the Republic from the 
thraldom of that oligarchy which prompts, di¬ 
rects, and concentrates the distant wrong. 

Such is the crime and such the criminal which 
it is my duty to expose; and, by the blessing of 
God, this duty shall be done completely to the 
end. But this will not be enough. The apolo¬ 
gies which, with strange hardihood, are offered 
for the crime must be torn away, so that it shall 
stand forth without a single rag or a fig-leaf to 
cover its vileness. And, finally the true remedy 
must be shown. The subject is complex in rela¬ 
tions, as it is transcendent in importance; and 
yet, if I am honored by your attention I hope to 
present it clearly in all its parts, while I conduct 
you to the inevitable conclusion that Kansas must 
be admitted at once, with her present constitu¬ 
tion, as a state of this Union, and give a new 
star to the blue field of our National Flag. And 
here I derive satisfaction from the thought, that 
the cause is so strong in itself as to bear even 
the infirmities of its advocates; nor can it require 
anything beyond that simplicity of treatment and 
moderation of manner which I desire to cultivate. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


ioi 


Its true character is such that, like Her¬ 
cules, it will conquer just so soon as it is recog¬ 
nized. 

My task will be divided under three different 
heads: first, The Crime Against Kansas, in its 
origin and extent; secondly, The Apologies for 
the Crime; and thirdly, The True Remedy. 

Before entering upon the argument, I must say 
something of a general character, particularly in 
response to what has fallen from senators who 
have raised themselves to eminence on this floor 
in championship of human wrong: I mean the 
Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Butler) and 
the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas), who, 
though unlike as Don Quixote and Sancho 
Panza, yet, like this couple, sally forth together 
in the same adventure. I regret much to miss the 
elder Senator from his seat; but the cause against 
which he has run a tilt, with such ebbulition of 
animosity, demands that the opportunity of ex¬ 
posing him should not be lost; and it is for the 
cause that I speak. The Senator from South 
Carolina has read many books of chivalry, and 
believes himself a chivalrous knight, with senti¬ 
ments of honor and courage. Of course he has 
chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, 
and who, though ugly to others, is always lovely 
to him,—though polluted in the sight of the 
world, is chaste in his sight: I mean the harlot 
slavery. For her his tongue is always profuse in 
words. Let her be impeached in character, or 
any proposition be made to shut her out from 
the extension of her wantonness, and no extrava¬ 
gance of manner or hardihood of assertion is 


102 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


then too great for this senator. The frenzy of 
Don Quixote in behalf of his wench Dulcinea del 
Toboso is all surpassed. 

The asserted rights of slavery, which shock 
equality of all kinds, are cloaked by a fantastic 
claim of equality. If the slave States cannot en¬ 
joy what, in mockery of the great fathers of the 
Republic, he misnames equality under the Con¬ 
stitution—in other words, the full power in the 
National Territories to compel fellow-men to un¬ 
paid toil, to separate husband and wife, and to 
sell little children at the auction-block—then, sir, 
the chivalric Senator will conduct the State of 
South Carolina out of the Union! Heroic 
knight! Exalted Senator! A second Moses come 
for a second exodus! ... The Senator dreams 

that he can subdue the North. He disclaims the 
open threat, but his conduct implies it. How lit¬ 
tle that Senator knows himself or the strength 
of the cause which he persecutes! He is but mor¬ 
tal man; against him is immortal principle. With 
finite power he wrestles with the infinite, and he 
must fall. Against him are stronger battalions 
than any marshalled by mortal arm,—the inborn, 
ineradicable, invincible sentiments of the human 
heart; against him is Nature with all her subtle 
forces; against him is God. Let him try to sub¬ 
due these. 

Passing from things which, though touching 
the very heart of the discussion, are yet prelim¬ 
inary, I press at once to the main point. 

The men who strive to bring back the Govern¬ 
ment to its original policy, when Freedom and 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 103 

not Slavery was national, while Slavery and not 
Freedom was sectional, he arraigns as sectional. 
This will not do. It involves too great a perver¬ 
sion of terms. I, tell that Senator that it is to 
himself, and to the ‘organization’ of which he is 
the ‘committed advocate,’ that this epithet be¬ 
longs. I now fasten it upon them. For myself I 
care little for names; but, since the question is 
raised here, I affirm that the Republican party of 
the Union is in no just sense sectional, but, more 
than any other party national ,—and it goes forth 
to dislodge from the high places that tyrannical 
sectionalism of which the Senator from South 
Carolina is one of the maddest zealots. . . . 


In closing the exposition of the crime, he said: 

Slavery stands erect, clanking its chains on 
the Territory of Kansas, surrounded by a code 
of death, and trampling upon all cherished liber¬ 
ties, whether of speech, the press, the bar, the 
trial by jury, or the electoral franchise. And, sir, 
all this is done, not merely to introduce a wrong 
which in itself is a denial of all rights, and in 
dread of which mothers have taken the lives of 
their offspring—not merely, as is sometimes said, 
to protect slavery in Missouri, since it is futile 
for this State to complain of Freedom on the side 
of Kansas, when Freedom exists without com¬ 
plaint on the side of Iowa, and also on the side of 
Illinois—but it is done for the sake of political 
power, in order to bring two new slaveholding 
Senators upon this floor, and thus to fortify in 
the National Government the desperate chances 


io4 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


of a wrong oligarchy. As the gallant ship voy¬ 
aging on pleasant summer seas, is assailed by a 
pirate crew, and plundered of its doubloons and 
dollars, so is this beautiful Territory now as¬ 
sailed in peace and prosperity, and robbed of its 
political power for the sake of slavery. Even 
now the black flag of the land pirates of Mis¬ 
souri waves at the mast-head; in their laws you 
hear the pirate yell and see the flash of the pirate 
knife; while incredible to relate, the President, 
gathering the slave power at his back, testifies a 
pirate sympathy. 

“Emerging from all the blackness of this 
crime, where we seem to have been lost, as in a 
savage wood, and turning our backs upon it, as 
upon desolation and death, from which, while 
others have suffered, we have escaped, I come 
now to the apologies which the crime has found. 
Sir, well may you start at the suggestion, that 
such a series of wrongs, so clearly proved by 
various testimony, so openly confessed by the 
wrong-doers, and so widely recognized through¬ 
out the country, should find apologists. But par¬ 
tisan spirit, now, as in other days, hesitates at 
nothing. Great crimes of history have never 
been without apologies The massacre of St. Bar¬ 
tholomew, which you now instinctively condemn, 
was at the time applauded in high quarters. 

As it concerns the events that followed 
the speech, another passage referring to Senator 
Butler, is quoted: 

With regret I come again upon the Senator 
from South Carolina, (Mr. Butler), who omni- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page tog 

present in this debate, overflowed with rage at 
the simple suggestion that Kansas had applied 
for admission as a State; and with incoherent 
phrases, discharged the loose expectoration of his 
speech now upon her representative and then 
upon her people. There was no extravagance of 
the ancient Parliamentary debate which he did 
not repeat; nor was there any possible deviation 
from truth which he did not make with so much 
of passion, I am glad to add as to save him from 
the suspicion of intentional aberration. But the 
Senator touches nothing which he does not disfig¬ 
ure—with error sometimes of principle, some¬ 
times of fact. He shows an incapacity of accur¬ 
acy, whether in stating the Constitution or in 
stating the law, whether in the details of statistics 
or the deversion of scholarship. He cannot ope 
his mouth, but out there flies a blunder. 

Were the whole history of South Carolina 
blotted out of existence, from its very beginning 
down to the day of the last election of the Sen¬ 
ator to his present seat on this floor, civilization 
would lose—I do not say how little, but surely less 
than it has already gained by the example of Kan¬ 
sas in that valiant struggle against oppression, and 
in the development of a new science of emigration, 
. . . Throughout this infant Territory there 

is more of educated talent, in proportion to its 
inhabitants, than in his vaunted State. Ah, sir, 
I tell the Senator, that Kansas, welcomed as a 
Free state, ‘a ministering angel shall be to the Re¬ 
public, when South Carolina, in the cloak of dark¬ 
ness which she hugs, ‘lies howling/ ... In 
the name of the Constitution outraged, of the 


io6 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

Laws trampled down, of Justice banished, of Hu¬ 
manity degraded, of Peace destroyed, of Free¬ 
dom crushed to earth—and in the name of the 
Heavenly Father, whose service is per fact Free¬ 
dom, I make this last appeal. 

Whittier, the revered poet, among others, 
wrote to Mr. Sumner congratulating him. His 
letter ran thus— 

I have read and re-read thy speech, and 
I look upon it as thy best. A grand and ter¬ 
rible philippic, worthy of the great oc¬ 
casion; the severe and awful truth which 
the sharp agony of the crisis demand¬ 
ed. It is enough for immortality. So far 
as thy own reputation is concerned, nothing 
more is needed. But this is of small impor¬ 
tance. We cannot see as yet the entire 
results of that speech, but everything now 
indicates that it has saved the country. 

One answer to these attacks was made by the 
“Little Giant,” who arose to the occasion well 
equipped, more though with derision than with 
choler. 

Mr. Douglas: I shall not detain the Senate 
by a detailed reply to the speech of the Senator 
from Massachusetts. Indeed, I should not deem 
it necessary to say one, but for the personalities 
in which he has indulged, evincing a depth of 
malignity that issued from every sentence, mak¬ 
ing it a matter of self respect with me to repel 
the assaults which have been made. As to the 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 107 

argument, we have heard it all before. Not a 
position, not a fact, not an argument has he used, 
which has not been employed on the same side 
of the Chamber this year, and replied to by me 
twice. I shall not follow him, therefore, because 
it would only be repeating the same answer which 
I have twice before given each of his positions. 
He seems to get up a speech, as in Yankee land 
they get up a bed quilt. They take all the old 
calico dresses of various colors, that have been 
in the house from the days of their grandmothers, 
and invite the young ladies of the neighborhood 
in the afternoon and the young men to meet 
them at a dance in the evening. They cut up 
these pieces of old dresses and make pretty fig¬ 
ures, and boast of what beautiful ornamental 
work they have made, although there was not a 
new piece of new material in the whole quilt. 
(Laughter.) Thus it is with the speech which 
we have had rehearsed here to-day in regard to 
matters of fact, matters of law, and matters of 
argument—everything but the personal assaults 
and malignity. I beg pardon; there is another 
point. We have had another dish of the classics 
served up—classic allusions, each one only dis¬ 
tinguished for its lasciviousness and obscenity— 
each are drawn from those portions of the 
classics which all decent professors in respect¬ 
able colleges cause to be suppressed, as unfit for 
decent young men to read. Sir, I cannot repeat 
those obscene vulgar terms which have been 
used at least a hundred times in that speech. It 
seems that his studies of classics have all been in 


1 


108 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

those haunts where ladies cannot go, where gen¬ 
tlemen never read Latin. (Laughter.) I have 
no disposition to follow him in that part of his 
speech. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


109 


XIV. 

ASSAULT ON SUMNER. 

Three days later, on May 23, Mr. Surnner sat 
at his desk shortly after the adjournment of the 
Senate, busy with some correspondence. As I 
recollect the incident, Representative Preston 
Brooks, who was the nephew of Senator Butler, 
came into the chamber by the front entrance and 
immediately went to Mr. Sumner’s seat, which 
was one or two to the left, in the back row. No 
attention was paid to Mr. Brooks, I am sure, as 
visitors from the House came in frequently and 
roved about on the Senate floor; but in a few 
minutes loud talking was heard, and Mr. Sumner 
was seen to rise, while Mr. Brooks struck him 
over the head with a cane, the cane breaking into 
pieces. The Senator attempted to shield himself 
with his hands, but directly uttered a cry of dis¬ 
tress, which brought several persons to his rescue. 
Mr. Sumner laid apparently senseless on the 
floor. In attempting to rise, the desk was 
wrenched from its fastenings. The greatest 
excitement followed, and all business was for 
some days practically suspended. 

Mr. Wilson, provoked almost beyond utterance, 


no Memoirs of a Senate Page 

called the attention of the Senate to the brutal 
assault upon his colleague, in these words: 

Mr. President. The seat of my colleague is 
vacant to-day. The seat is vacant to-day for the 
first time during five years of public service. 
Yesterday after a touching tribute to the memory 
of a deceased member of the House of Represen¬ 
tatives, the Senate adjourned. My colleague re¬ 
mained in his seat busily engaged in his public 
duties. While thus engaged, with pen in hand, 
and in a position which rendered him utterly in¬ 
capable of protecting or defending himself, Mr. 
Preston S. Brooks, a member of the House of 
Representatives approached his desk unobserved, 
and abruptly addressed him. Before he had time 
to utter a single word in reply, he received a 
stunning blow upon the head from a cane in the 
hands of Mr. Brooks, which made him blind and 
almost unconscious. Endeavoring, however, to 
protect himself, in rising from his chair his desk 
was overthrown, and while in that condition, he 
was beaten upon the head by repeated blows, until 
he sank upon the floor of the Senate exhausted, 
unconscious, and covered with his own blood. 
He was taken from this chamber to the ante¬ 
room, his wounds were dressed, and then by 
friends he was carried to his home and placed 
upon his bed. He is unable to be with us to-day 
to perform the duties that belong to him as a 
member of this body. Sir, to assail a member of 
the Senate, out of this chamber, for words spoken 
in debate is a grave offence, not only against the 
rights of the Senator, but the Constitutional priv¬ 
ileges of this House; but, sir, to come into this 


Memoirs of a Senate Page hi 

chamber and assault a member in his seat until 
he falls exhausted and senseless on this floor, v is 
an offence requiring the prompt and decisive ac¬ 
tion of the Senate. Senators, I have called your 
attention to this transaction. I submit no motion, 
I leave it to the older Senators, whose character 
—whose position in this body, and before the 
country, eminently fit them for the task of devis¬ 
ing measures to redress the wrongs of a member 
of this body, and to vindicate the honor and dig¬ 
nity of the Senate.” 

On motion of Senator Seward, of New York, 
the following resolution, after being amended, 
was passed as follows: 

“ Resolved . That a committee of five be elected 
by the Senate to inquire into the circumstances at¬ 
tending the assault on the person of the Hon. 
Charles Sumner, a member of the Senate, in the 
Senate chamber yesterday; and that said commit¬ 
tee be instructed to report a statement of the 
facts, together with their opinion thereon to the 
Senate.” 

The Baltimore Sun, of May 27, published the 
testimony of Mr. Sumner in the investigation of 
the assault, which implicated certain Senators, 
who immediately upon seeing it in print, took 
occasion to publicly deny what Mr. Sumner had 
said. 

Mr. Slidell. (La.) If the Senate will indulge 
me for a moment, I wish to make a personal 
explanation. I find in the Baltimore Sun of 
this morning, a statement which purports to have 
been the testimony given by Mr. Sumner before 
a committee of investigators of the House of 


112 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

Representatives, and which contains some 
matters that concern me. I am not dis¬ 
posed to attribute what Mr. Sumner has 
said to any deliberate intention to create a 
false impression in the public mind, but such 
must be the inference from the passage in the 
testimony of Mr. Sumner, to which I now beg 
leave to call the attention of the Senate; and I 
will simply explain my own position in the mat¬ 
ter, without making any comments on Mr. Sum¬ 
ner’s course. It is unnecessary for me to read 
the introductory part of this testimony. Mr. 
Sumner says, speaking of having received blows 
from Mr. Brooks: 

Other persons were about me, offering friendly 
assistance; but I did not recognize any of them, 
others were at a distance, looking on, and offer¬ 
ing no assistance, of whom I recognized only Mr. 
Douglas, of Illinois; Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, 
and I thought also my assailant standing between 
them. I was helped from the floor, and -con¬ 
ducted into the lobby of the Senate where I was 
placed upon a sofa. Of those who helped me 
there I have no recollection. 

As I entered the lobby I recognized Mr. Slid¬ 
ell, of Louisiana, who retreated; but I recognized 
no one else until I felt a friendly grasp of the 
hand which seemed to come from Mr. Campbell, 
of Ohio (H.R.). 

The two other Senators who are mentioned In 
the same connection can explain their own posi¬ 
tions. As regards, however, my friend from 
Illinois, I am enabled to speak, while defending 
myself from the imputation conveyed by this 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 113 

statement, I am enabled to speak with great cer¬ 
tainty of his position in the matter. 

The Senate will recollect that we adjourned at 
an early hour on that day. I went into the ante¬ 
room where I found my friend from Illinois (Mr. 
Douglas), Governor Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, 
and Mr. J. Glancy Jones, of Pennsylvania, in con¬ 
versation. They were seated. I approached 
them and asked them if they were engaged in 
any particular or private conversation. On re¬ 
ceiving a negative response, I sat down and joined 
them in conversation. We had been there some 
minutes—I think we were alone in the ante-room 
—when a person (if I recollect aright, it was Mr. 
Jones, a messenger of the Senate) rushed in ap¬ 
parently in great trepidation, and said that some¬ 
body was beating Mr. Sumner. We heard this 
remark without any emotion; for my own part I 
confess I felt none. I am not disposed to partici¬ 
pate in broils of any kind. I remained very quiet¬ 
ly in my seat; the above gentlemen did the same; 
we did not move. A minute or two afterwards 
another person passed through the Chamber and 
said that Mr. Sumner had been very badly beaten. 
. . . Hearing that the affray was over, and 

hearing that Mr. Brooks was concerned in the 
matter, I felt a little more interest for I had 
really supposed that it was some ordinary scuf¬ 
fle. I did not know from what cause it originated 
and was not disposed to meddle in it. I then 
came into the Senate Chamber, passing through 
the side door at the back of my seat. I found, 
I think, at least sixty or seventy people on the 
floor of the Senate Chamber—perhaps more. A 


114 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

crowd surrounded the second chair on the other 
side of the lobby, and I was told that Mr. Sum¬ 
ner was there extended in a state of insensibility, 
prostrate on the floor. ... I was ap¬ 
proaching the door of the reception room with a 
view of passing out and going home, having no 
longer any inducement to remain in the Senate, 
when I met Mr. Sumner in the doorway of the 
reception room, leaning on two persons whom I 
did not recognize. His face was covered with 
blood. I am not particularly fond of scenes of 
any sort. I have no association or relations of 
any kind with Mr. Sumner; I have not spoken 
to him for two years. I did not think it neces¬ 
sary to express my sympathy or make any ad¬ 
vances toward him. If I had continued I should 
have crossed his path, and interrupted his pro¬ 
gress to a sofa; he was evidently faint and weak. 
I very naturally turned in another direction; and, 
instead of passing through the ante-room, entered 
the Senate Chamber in this direction (through 
the side door). I have stated very briefly my 
connection with this matter/' 

Mr. Douglas: Mr. President, I deem it my 
duty to submit a statement. A moment or two 
before the Senate adjourned on that day, my col¬ 
league in the other House, Colonel Richardson, 
sent for me to hold a conversation in the recep¬ 
tion room. He came to the door of the Senate 
Chamber, and I went to the reception room, and 
sat a considerable time with him. ... As 
Colonel Richardson arose to leave, I started to go 
with him, when Governor Fitzpatrick, of Ala¬ 
bama, and Mr. J. Glancy Jones, of Pennsylvania, 


Memoirs of a Senate Page i 15 

who were sitting on a settee at the other end of the 
reception room, called me to them. . . . 

Mr. Slidell came in, as he states, and while we 
were talking there, one of the messengers rushed 
through, and remarked as he passed, that some¬ 
body was beating Mr. Sumner. I arose involun¬ 
tarily to my feet. My first impression was to 
come into the Senate Chamber and help to put 
an end to the affray, if I could; but it occurred 
to my mind in an instant, that my relations with 
Mr. Sumner were such that if I came into the 
hall, my motives would be misconstrued, perhaps, 
and I sat down again. ... I remember 
seeing Mr. Toombs, of Georgia, sitting about 
where he now sits; Mr. Pearce, of Maryland, 
about where he now sits; Mr. Crittenden, of 
Kentucky, near the same place; and Judge Evans, 
of South Carolina, very near where he is now 
sitting. They were all seated, all quiet, and I 
looked to see where the parties were who had 
been engaged in this affray. At last I observed 
Mr. Sumner at the side of the center aisle, 
his feet in the aisle, and he leaning partially 
against a chair. I had only a glance. I 
stayed there but a moment. ... I left 
the Senate at the other end of the Cham¬ 
ber. How the idea got into Mr. Sumner’s brain 
that I was on one side, and the Senator from 
Georgia on the other, with the assailant between 
us, is, of course, impossible for me to conceive. 
It is evident from that language that the purpose 
—or, at least, certainly the effect is, to carry the 
impression to the country, that I was privy to 
his transaction; that I was standing, aiding and 


ii 6 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

abetting the assailant in it; that I was, in fact, a 
participant. . . . 

Mr. Toombs: Mr. President, I should not 
deem it at all necessary to make any statement 
about this affair, so far as I am concerned; but 
the position of the two gentlemen who are alluded 
to in this connection, may make it necessary for 
them. I was present, and have given a state¬ 
ment in another place, as a witness. . . . 

As to what Mr. Sumner says about Mr. Brooks , 
standing between myself and the Senator from 
Illinois, there is not a word of fact in it. I pre¬ 
sume he was mistaken. ... As for ren¬ 
dering Mr. Sumner any assistance, I did not do 
it. As to what was said, some gentlemen con¬ 
demned it in Mr. Brooks; I stated to him, or to 
some of my own friends, probably, that I ap¬ 
proved it. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


ii 7 


XV. 


MR. butler's defense; and oration on his 

DEATH. 

A liberal mind and noble impulse were the 
gracious attributes of that kind old gentleman, 
Mr. Butler, who for many years so sufficiently 
stood guardian over his State’s interests in the 
upper branch of Congress, and won credit to the 
South and to himself by a judicious and manly 
course in all public transactions wherein his ample 
knowledge had served the nation. 

The bitter and unrelenting attack upon Mr. 
Butler and his State, at the subtle hands of Mr. 
Sumner, aroused such indignation in the South 
and particularly in South Carolina, that the as¬ 
sault was almost demanded of the nephew, and a 
defence by Mr. Butler, himself, on the floor of 
the Senate, was awaited with breathless anxiety. 
In most eloquent terms, he defended himself 
shortly after returning to Washington, in a speech 
delivered June 12. 

Mr. Butler: Mr. President—The occasion and 
the subject upon which I am about to address 
the Senate of the United States, at this time, have 
been brought about by events over which I have 
had no control, and could have had none—events 
which have grown out of the commencement of a 


n8 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

controversy for which the Senator from Massa¬ 
chusetts (not now in his seat, Mr. Sumner) 
should be held exclusively responsible to his 
country and his God. He has delivered a speech 
the most extraordinary that has ever had utter¬ 
ance in any deliberative body recognizing the 
sanction of law and decency. When it was de¬ 
livered, I was not here; and if I had been present, 
what I should have done it would be perfectly idle 
for me now to say; because no one can substitute 
the deliberations of a subsequent period for such 
as might have influenced him at another time, 
and under different circumstances. My impres¬ 
sion now is that, if I had been present, I should 
have asked the Senator before he finished some 
of the paragraphs personally applicable to myself, 
to pause; and if he had gone on, I would have 
demanded of him, the next morning that he 
should review that speech, and retract or modify 
it, so as to bring it within the sphere of parlia¬ 
mentary propriety. If he had refused this, what I 
would have done I cannot say; yet I can say I 
would not have submitted to it. But what mode 
of redress I should have resorted to, I cannot tell. 

' When I was at my little farm enjoying myself 
quietly, and, as I thought, had taken refuge from 
the strifes and contentions of the Senate, and of 
politics, a message was brought to me that my 
kinsman had been involved in a difficulty on my 
account. It was so vague I did not know how to 
account for it. I was far from any telegraph 
communication. I did not wait five minutes be¬ 
fore I left home to put myself within the reach 
of such information—and garbled even as that 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


119 


was—as was accessible. I traveled four days 
continuously to Washington; and when I arrived 
I found the very subject under discussion which 
had given me such anxiety; and it has been the 
source of the deepest concern to my feelings ever 
since I heard of it, on many accounts—on account 
of my country, and on account of the honor and 
safety of my kinsman. When I arrived here I 
found the discussion under consideration. I went 
to the Senate worn down by travel; and I then 
gave notice, that when the resolution from Mas¬ 
sachusetts should be presented, I would speak to 
them as coming from a Commonwealth whose 
history, and whose lessons of history, had in¬ 
spired me with the very highest admiration 
—I would speak to them from a respect to 
a Commonwealth, whilst, perhaps, the Sena¬ 
tor who had been the cause of their intro¬ 
duction ought not to deserve my notice, and 
would not have received it . . . 

Further on, Mr. Butler said: 

Instead of making his speech here his own, as 
a Senator under the obligations of the Con¬ 
stitution, and the highest sanctions which 
can influence the conduct of an honorable 
man—instead of making it the vehicle of 
high thoughts and noble emotions that would 
become a man and Senator, it is obvious now 
that he made that speech but the conduit—I will 
use a stronger expression—the fang, through 
which to express upon the public the compound 
poison of malignity and injustice. This is con¬ 
firmed by his remarkable exordium, for, in many 
respects, this is the most extraordinary that has 


120 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


even found its way into any book, or upon any 
occasion ancient or modern. I have never be¬ 
fore heard of proem or exordium by proclama¬ 
tion; and yet, before the delivery of his speech, 
by a telegraphic proclamation to Theodore Par¬ 
ker, he uttered this most remarkable sentence: 
“Whilst you are deliberating in your meetings, I 
am about to pronounce the most thorough 
philippic that was ever heard in the Senate of 
the United States.” This is in conformity with 
Mr. Parker’s opinion. He was a flexible con¬ 
formist invoking the spirit of Theodore Parker 
as his muse to sustain him in the strife, for which 
by his nature and talents he was not fit. Sir, 
it was the tribute and deference of a flexible 
conformist, willing to be a rhetorical fabrication 
to carry out and subserve the purpose of a man, 
as I understand, of an iron will and robust intel¬ 
lect; who loves controversy, and has abilities 
which more fit him, perhaps, for that, than for 
worshipping the lamb of innocence, and as the 
prototype of that Christ whose doctrines he has 
professed. To conciliate Parker, the Senator 
must make war upon South Carolina and my¬ 
self. If he supposed he would gain lands by 
any attack on me because I was a “foeman 
worthy of his steel,” I might feel complimented; 
but there was no such purpose. It was to pander 
to the prejudices of Massachusetts, or a portion 
of Massachusetts—for God forbid that I should 
say anything which is not proper of Massachu¬ 
setts—to pander to a portion of Massachusetts 
by assailing South Carolina. Before I finish I 
shall say what I think, and if he were here in 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 121 

his place I would make him hang his head in 
shame; for I will demonstrate before I conclude, 
that, in what he has said of South Carolina, he 
has aspersed the nearest and dearest comrade of 
his mother. Yes, sir, a degenerate son, incap¬ 
able of appreciating the relations which subsisted 
between Massachusetts and South Carolina at a 
time when there was something more of peril 
to be encountered than exhibitions of rhetoric in 
the Senate of the United States; when men 
placed their lives and their fortunes on the issue 
which had been made. I will prove him a 
calumniator. While he has charged me with 
misstating history, law, and the Constitution, let 
me say that “he who lives in glass houses should 
not throw stones.” I here say, and I pledge my¬ 
self to it, that I will convict him, and shall de¬ 
mand of the Senate a verdict of guilty. 

But, Mr. President, there is one result of this 
speech which I think may be regarded as good. 
He has shown as Mr. Beecher says, that he is 
unfit for the war of debate. He has no business 
to gather the glories of the Senate Chamber and 
fight with orators, unless he is prepared to main¬ 
tain the position of an honorable combatant. 
Though his friends have invested him with the 
dress of Achilles and offered him his armor, he 
has shown that he is only able to fight with the 
weapons of Thersites, and deserved what that 
brawler received from the hands of the gallant 
Ulysses. 

When the Senator from Massachusetts took 
his seat near me, I knew that he was a Free- 
soiler or Abolitionist, as it was termed; but not- 


122 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


withstanding that, I had read some of his 
productions, and he was introduced to me, or 
perhaps I to him. I had known many who came 
into the Senate of the United States, reeking 
with the prejudices from home, who afterwards 
had the courage to lift themselves above the 
temporary influences which had controlled them. 
I supposed that a man who had read history 
could not be a bigot. I believed that one who 
was imbued with the literature which that Sena¬ 
tor’s mind had imbibed, could not sin in the 
face of light, and truth, and the lessons of his¬ 
tory. With these views, I did not hesitate to 
keep up what our friends complained of, an 
intercourse with him, which was calculated to 
give him a currency far beyond what he might 
have had if I had not indulged in that species 
of intercourse. My friends here and every¬ 
where know it. When I made my reply to him 
on the Nebraska and Kansas bill, I complimented 
him, and he was gratified at it, for he said so. 
His opinion of me as a lawyer was very different 
then (if I may be allowed to speak of what he 
then said), not only on this floor, but to other 
persons. I did not hesitate to forbear a pro¬ 
scriptive judgment on any man because he hap¬ 
pened to differ with me to-day or to-morrow; 
for life, sir, is but a span anyhow. I thought 
the time might come when the tide of events 
would bring to him the awful certainty of the 
doctrines which he held, and which in the first 
instance, when he came here, he was not dis¬ 
posed to propagate. 

Things stood in this way until one day when 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 123 

it was proposed here to repeal the fugitive slave 
law. I said that I had no great confidence in 
that law, and turned to him with an honest pur¬ 
pose, with no design whatever to provoke any¬ 
thing like a personal or sectional issue, and 
asked of the Senator from Massachusetts 
whether, if there were no fugitive slave law, 
Massachusetts would be willing to carry out the 
provision of the Constitution. Then it was, in 
excitement, or as he said, “impulse,”— an im¬ 
pulse, as I characterized it then, of the drawer— 
he rose and asked me if “he was a dog to do 
this thing?” I treated this answer with ridicule; 
it absolutely did not touch my heart; and after 
that I spoke to him. 

Three days afterward he came in with a 
labored philippic touching me more deeply than 
he had before; but he then made, for the first 
time, a change' affecting the revolutionary his¬ 
tory of South Carolina. I have no doubt I re¬ 
plied with indignation. I have no doubt that my 
heart threw the words upon him. Mortified 
vanity has no conscience; it may be that he did 
not think that he came out of that controversy 
with as much .credit as he should—at least his 
friends may have thought so. I gave him notice, 
however, that after that I should have no com¬ 
munication with him whatever—the bridge had 
been cut down—and I never have had. Two 
years elapsed; and during that time, I am bound 
in justice here to say, I have scarcely spoken to, 
of, or about him; and, perhaps, when I did 
speak about him, I said something which he 
would have been gratified to hear. My friends 


124 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

think that sometimes I did. Whatever the 
temptation of my resentment may be, I have 
passed, and shall pass, through life with one 
determination; If I cannot do justice, I will not 
do injustice to any man. I have exhibited here 
in debate, on more occasions than one, impa¬ 
tience and excitability; these are peculiarities 
which have followed me from the cradle. Per¬ 
haps, sometimes anger, in its ebulitions, may 
have found an expression from me; but, thank 
God, I can say it was but a transient feeling, 
which at the time gushed from the heart; it was 
a feeling which subsequently was suppressed by 
reason and repentance. That however, is a 
failing which cannot inhabit the same mind with 
treachery and malignity. 

Now, sir, I will proceed to make my points; 
and I shall show that what the Senator said of 
myself and South Carolina was not in response 
to anything which I said; that he has gone out¬ 
side the record to bring into the debate matters 
which did not legitimately belong to it by asso¬ 
ciation or connection. . . . Shame! I call 
upon the shade of Hancock and Adams to look 
down and reprove a degenerate son who can 
thus invade the very sanctuary of the history 
which has given them immortality. 

Do you think that, sir, by this remark I 
reproached the troops of New England! No, 
sir. When Yorktown surrendered, there was 
not a New England regiment there; I have a list 
of the troops who were present. But because I 
say that Southern troops and those from Penn¬ 
sylvania alone engaged in these distinguished 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 125 

battles, do I reproach the troops of Massachu¬ 
setts ? God forbid! They were under the com¬ 
mand of Washington at the time he went to 
Yorktown and as was his duty, he sent them to 
defend the vulnerable points of New York and 
Boston. Now I will make a remark which 1 
hope the Senate will remember: Notwithstand¬ 
ing their relative numbers compared with the 
pay list of New England, you may take the 
fighting days—if you have a mind to compute it 
as you would labor—you may take the fighting 
days during which the troops of South Caro¬ 
lina were engaged, and in the computation the 
balance will be found greatly against Massachu¬ 
setts. If you have a mind to draw some other 
test—if you wish to test the question of sacrifice, 
and measure it by blood, South Carolina has 
poured out hogshead of blood where gallons have 
been poured out by Massachusetts. . . . But I 

do not blame Massachusetts, for as I have said, 
she had glory enough, and she was covered with 
glory enough by taking the bold stand which 
she did in putting the ball of revolution in mo¬ 
tion; but when the Senator undertakes to cast 
reproaches on the history of South Carolina, he 
will have to take hard comparisons. She got 
bread from her comrade. The man who now 
reproaches South Carolina as I said a little 
while ago, is a degenerate son reproaching the 
dearest and nearest comrade of his mother. You 
cannot get over the errors he has committed in 
history; you cannot obviate the malignity with 
which the arrow has been shot. Whether he 
shot it with the reckless aim of one who had his 


126 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

hand upon the bow, and directed the shaft con¬ 
scious that it had been dipped in the poison of 
others, I know not; but I have unmasked him; 
I have detected and exposed the man who 
charges me with error, and such a proclivity to 
error that I cannot observe the line of truth 
without such deviations as to bring on the cen¬ 
sure, not of one intentionally of falsehood, but 
one who, under the gust and whirlwind of 
passion, cannot observe the line of truth. I have 
detected him; I have exposed him; and now I 
demand of the Senate a verdict of guilty. I 
pause, sir. 


It was nearly three years before Mr. Sumner 
recovered from the effects of his injuries, and 
when he again took his seat in the Senate, both 
Mr. Butler and Mr. Brooks, had passed over the 
bar. 

On the death of Mr. Butler, several orations 
were made in the Senate; the context of one 
delivered by the silver-tongued Benjamin here 
following: 

The feeling and eloquent tribute that has 
just been rendered to the memory of our de¬ 
parted brother, has awakened sensibilities which 
1 fear will be jarred by anything I can hope to 
say; yet, sir, having been thought worthy of an 
invitation to join in these sad rites, I pray you 
for a moment's indulgence whilst I lay an 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 127 

humble offering on the grave around which we 
are gathered. 

It is literally but yesterday that the seat before 
me was filled by the venerable form of Caro¬ 
lina’s senior Senator; to-day Carolina mourns 
his loss; the electric messenger has done its 
work, and the friends of his are even now 
mingling their griefs with ours; recalling as we 
are, the affecting words with which so lately he 
lamented, on the death of his late colleague, that 
the inexorable fiat had striken down the vigorous 
tree, and left unscathed the withered remnants 
of the decaying trunk. 

Sad indeed have been the recent bereavements 
which it has pleased Providence to inflict upon 
the native State of him we mourn. The awe 
stricken heart of the nation was still throbbing 
heavily in unison with hers for the loss of her 
pre-eminent son. When on my taking my seat 
in this body I learned to know and love both the 
colleague and the almost immediate successor of 
John C. Calhoun. A few short years have 
elapsed, and where is now the beaming eye of 
Andrew Pickens Butler? Where his genial 
presence, his ringing voice, his manly bearing, 
his whole being stamped as it was with the seal 
of honor, the impress of true nobility of soul? 
Broken hearted at the loss of his gallant kins¬ 
man, he has sunk into the tomb; to which, with 
shaken frame and streaming eyes he had fol¬ 
lowed the lamented Brooks. 

Hamilton, too, the chivalrous, the warm 
hearted, the eloquent Hamilton, sleeps beneath 
the deep waters of the Southern gulf. And now, 


128 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

now, Evans, the erudite Judge, the honored Sen¬ 
ator, the soul of truth, who loved justice for the 
sake of justice, truth for the sake of truth, he 
too is to be borne to the last common resting 
place of man; and amongst us, the place that 
lias known him shall know him no more. This 
is not the time nor the place for a calm and 
measured analysis of those intellectual and 
moral qualities which won for Josiah J. Evans 
the proud distinction of being selected by his 
native State as worthy to fill the seat once occu¬ 
pied by Calhoun. Yet it is not alien to the 
feelings natural on such an occasion that affec¬ 
tion should revert to the traits peculiarly charac¬ 
teristic of the deceased—and fondly seek to 
stamp upon the memory all that can preserve a 
vivid image of him who has left us forever. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


129 


XVI. 

JUDGE WADE. 

The name of Benjamin F. Wade, or, as some 
called him, “Old Ben Wade,” was esteemed from 
one end of the land to the other, and by those 
who knew the man, it was ever held in affec¬ 
tionate regard; for he possessed those excellent 
qualities that make one to be valued both as 
friend and public servant. 

His ancestor, Jonathan Wade, emigrated from 
Norfolk, England, and settled in Massachusetts, 
in 1632. Benjamin Wade was born at Spring- 
field, in that State, in 1800. At eighteen years of 
age, he with some regrets, turned from the plow, 
with which he had labored many a day on the old 
farm, and struck out to seek his fortunes, like 
many other boys of those times. He was not 
afraid of hard work, having been inured to it 
from early boyhood, and now, wrestling with the 
tides of life, he faltered not at being forced to 
work with spade and wheelbarrow on the con¬ 
struction of the Erie Canal. As best he could, 
in spite of divers difficulties, he acquired the rudi¬ 
ments of the English branches of education, and 
later, having progressed as far West as Ashtabula 
County, Ohio, he took up the study of law. To 
pass over the years of toil and deprivation, with- 


130 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

out dwelling upon any period of the chastening 
that was making him a man of mark, we find him 
at the age of thirty-eight in the United States 
Senate from the State of Ohio. But his ideas of 
negro equality with the white man, made him 
very unpopular for a time; however, in 1847, he 
came once more into public favor, his previous 
course having been approved, and was elected to 
the judiciary of the State. His successful career 
as a judge was closed in 1851, when he was 
again elected to the United States Senate. 

Judge Wade was somewhat above the average 
in height, stout, and of dark complexion. His 
features were strong, almost savage, and any who 
had not enjoyed his friendship would have mis¬ 
taken him for a cold and unfeeling man; but to 
the contrary he was warm-hearted and sympa¬ 
thetic. In the early years he had robbed many 
nights of their hours, pouring over his Bible, 
its words of light and truth being stored away 
in his memory; and there were many occasions 
when he quoted familiarly from the Book of 
Books. 

Silent and thoughtful, his black eyes penetrat¬ 
ing wheresoever they were turned, I remember 
what a fine appearance he made as President />ro- 
tempore of the Senate. He never wore a finger 
ring or breast pin. He cared nothing for adorn¬ 
ment. Dressed always in plain black clothes, with 
standing collar of the old style, immaculate in 
every detail, he was the picture of the true Amer¬ 
ican statesman. 

He withdrew from the Whigs in 1854, when 
he saw their Southern wing cut off and joined to 









































































* 



















• ' 

M&f i, I ' I J .w -™j I 

































































Memoirs of a Senate Page 13 i 

the Democracy. From that time forth he knew 
no Whig party, but was heart and soul devoted 
to the principles of the Republican forces, 
though small indeed were Republicans in num¬ 
ber compared with the Democratic ranks. In 
May 1856, he arose one day saying: 

“I desire on some occasion, to occupy a short 
time in the discussion of the Kansas question. I 
am not particular as to the day when I shall be 
heard. I have not yet spoken on the subject, but 
my constituents expect me to give my views upon 
it, and I shall therefore ask the Senate, at some 
suitable time, to give me an opportunity to be 
heard. I shall leave it, however, to the Senate 
to say what time will be most convenient to them. 
I trust that the Kansas bill is not to be rushed 
through with precipitate haste. It is the great 
question of the session. In the minds of the 
people of the North—and I think the same re¬ 
mark applies to the South—it absorbs all other 
questions. It is the great measure of the session, 
and it ought not to be acted upon with precipita¬ 
tion. In my judgment, we should proceed with 
great deliberation, and should allow every Sena¬ 
tor an opportunity of presenting his views to the 
Senate and to his constituents. I hope the Sena¬ 
tor from Illinois will not press his bill hastily. I 
trust that he comprehends its great importance. 
After the distinguished gentlemen who have 
spoken on this question, I do not expect to be able 
to shed much light upon it, but nevertheless, it 
will be my duty to give my views in regard to 
it, and I trust we shall hear the views of many 
others before we arrive at any conclusion. 


132 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

Allusions have been made to the Whig party 
and the Democratic party, in the course of this 
debate. Sir, they are of very little importance in 
comparison with this question. I think I know 
the time when the Whig party died on this floor. 
I remember the occasion when in my opinion the 
breath was just leaving its body, and I rose here 
on that fatal night and attempted to preach its 
funeral sermon. Sir, I expect, before this session 
closes, to preach the funeral sermon of the Demo¬ 
cratic party also.” Mr. Brown. “It is not dead 
yet.” Mr. Wade. “It is so nearly dead that it 
requires a physician to tell the difference. 
(Laughter.) But, sir, I only arose for the pur¬ 
pose of expressing the hope, that as this is the 
great and engrossing topic of the session, it will 
not be urged with such haste as to prevent any 
gentlemen expressing his views upon it.” 

In the course of his speech on the Kansas bill 
he said: 

“I have been amazed in studying the history of 
my country to reflect on the differences between 
this day and that when the word “liberty” was 
loved. It reminds me of the speech of Cicero, 
on a certain occasion, when in the degenerate 
days of old Rome, the idea crossed his great 
mind. He spoke of liberty, how once revered 
and loved by the Roman people, but now (said 
he) trampled down. How is it here today ? How 
is it with the great Democratic party, and their 
representatives within my hearing? There is no 
word in the English language that is so pro¬ 
scribed by them as the word “liberty.” These 
Democrats hate it as a mad dog hates water. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


133 


‘Liberty/ The moment the word is spoken he 
that speaks it is at once transformed into an 
Abolitionist. ‘Liberty!’ ‘freedom!’ of all words 
in our language their utterance soonest puts a 
man in Coventry. One Senator believes that a 
man should be put in Coventry who makes use of 
these terms indiscreetly. Why is it thus? Sir, 
liberty was the polar star that guided our fathers 
in the great struggle for independence. If that 
word had been stricken from the calendar not a 
single man would have been found to face the 
British bayonets for a moment. It is an indica¬ 
tion of liberty that I am here to-day. It is not 
less in jeopardy now than it was then. Aspira¬ 
tions of liberty stimulated them, and enabled 
them to pass through the dreadful struggles of 
Revolution, but now, at this era, in the Senate 
of the United States, I am supposed to be an 
intermeddler in other men’s business not my own, 
for avowing my love for it. For maintaining 
this principle, I am put beyond the pale of all 
promotion in the so-called Democratic party. 
Their leaders are now courted, trusted, and 
honored in proportion to their servility and 
hatred of freedom. All Senators know that there 
exists here an unconstitutional test of office. I 
do not respect it and I told you in the beginning 
that I never would. Lest he who occupies the 
Executive Chair should make some great blunder, 
and not put into office a mere tool of this slave 
power. You enquire into what he has done; and 
if the smell of liberty is on his garment, be it 
even so faint or remote, he is proscribed. He 
can no more receive an office at the hands of the 


134 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


Democratic party than if he came from a peni¬ 
tentiary. The love of liberty operates as a con¬ 
viction for crime. It deprives him of the rights 
of an American citizen. He can hold no office of 
trust or profit under the United States, if he 
hapoens to believe that men are created equal and 
have certain inalienable rights, among which are 
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This 
is the degeneracy to whicn your Democratic party 
has come. I am humiliated by it; I am put be¬ 
yond the pale of office. There is not one of the 
majority in the other House, calling themselves 
Republicans, who were elected by an overwhelm¬ 
ing majority of the free people of the United 
States, whose Representative they are, who is not 
under your Democratic rule, as effectively pro¬ 
scribed from receiving an office at the hands of 
the Democratic party as though he was an inmate 
of a penitentiary. Why ? Because he has under¬ 
taken to resist your attempt to make slavery in 
these United States universal and perpetual for¬ 
ever. These are some of the reasons why I 
stand here to inveigh against your institution. It 
has corrupted public men. It has overturned the 
Government. You have erected rules and prin¬ 
ciples utterly inconsistent with those of the fath¬ 
ers of the Republic. You know that I preach 
no more than the truth—nay, half the truth has 
not been told on this subject. I desire to reason 
with men; and 1 ask my Democratic friends of 
the South, do you suppose for one moment that a 
proud people, jealous above all things of their 
rights, whose fathers periled their lives to obtain 
those guarantees of liberty which we are defend- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 135 

mg; I ask you in sober reason, divested of all 
acrimony, is it reasonable to suppose that it is 
entirely safe to drive that class of men to the 
wall? Do you expect that it will be safe to deny, 
forever those great principles of liberty which are 
cherished by a majority of the people of the 
United States as the apple of their eye! If you 
do I tell you you will wake up some morning and 
find you have gone a step too far. The patience 
of our people on this subject, has been more 
severely tried than was that of their fathers. If 
those venerated sires could look down on us to¬ 
day, they would reproach us for our patient 
submission for so long a time.” 


As President pro tempore of the Senate, Judge 
Wade appointed the keeper of the restaurant. A 
rumor had gone about, at one time, that a change 
was to be made in the incumbency of that office, 
and the colored man then enjoying the profits of 
the business, approached Mr. Wade, and said: 
‘T keep the Senate restaurant, Senator.” “Oh, 
yes, you run the cook shop down stairs,” replied 
Mr. Wade. “Yes, sir,” with a low bow. 

“Well, what can I do for you?” “I called to 
express the wish, sir, that when there is anything 
you want, sir, you will send one of the pages 
down stairs, and it will be furnished quick as a 
flash and without costing you a cent.” “Oh, I 
don’t want you to feed me. When I do I’ll pay 
for it, like other people.” Then seeming to recol¬ 
lect something, he continued, “But, listen. Com¬ 
plaint has been made to me that you don’t treat 


136 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

the little pages fairly or kindly, they can’t get 
anything to eat, but expensive things. Remem¬ 
ber, these pages are our boys, and you had better 
overcharge Senators who are able to pay, than 
those little chaps who need their wages to take 
home. You’ll treat them differently hereafter, or 
I’ll have you moved out of your cook shop, and 
put someone else in it.” That was enough. We 
were treated differently after that. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


137 


XVII. 

CONTINUED DEBATE ON KANSAS AFFAIRS. 

From all sides, from all angles, and from all 
minds, came the outpourings of opinion in this 
debate. If the Senate had nothing better to do, it 
seemed quite ready at all times to fall back on 
poor Kansas. It was a wide subject, as it proved, 
because the consequences impending upon it were 
grave, and involved many questions and drew 
nearly all the Senate into the consideration of it. 
There was defeat hanging in the balance on 
either hand, as the contestants readily saw, defeat 
not only on the admission of Kansas, but defeat 
on the slavery issue aside from that; and it be¬ 
hove the most valiant knights in the lists to arm 
themselves cap-a-pie, for the hardest conflict of 
their day. 

Now we turn toward Mr. Benjamin, who 
throws more light upon this troublesome situation. 
In all his speeches he displayed the skill of the 
trained lawyer, the foresight of the statesman, 
and the illumination of the-Egyptian. Al¬ 

though not to be regarded as a great oration, 
upon this occasion he spoke with some point and 
originality and opened new vistas to the sight. 


Mr. President, This is the third time within 



138 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

the short history of our republic, that its peace 
has been imperiled. Thrice already has the bond 
which binds together the different States of the 
Confederacy been menaced with disruption, and 
on each occasion the disturbing element has been 
the same. This Union, which, at the date of the 
adoption of the Constitution, was formed by one 
non-Slaveholding and twelve Slaveholding States, 
now presents an array of sixteen of the former, 
and only fifteen of the latter. Causes, which are 
too obvious to require enumeration have oper¬ 
ated since the foundation of the Government in 
producing the abolition of Slavery in the north¬ 
ern portion of the country. 

On the first of these occasions, Mr. President, 
in 1820, more than thirty years after the forma¬ 
tion of the Union, the North for the first time 
endeavored to secure the admission of Maine into 
the Union, while at the same time it attempted 
to exclude Missouri, and that too in defiance of 
the provisions of the treaty of Cession of 1803, 
the words of which are that “the said Territory 
shall be admitted into the Union at the earliest 
possible period consistently with principles of the 
Federal Constitution.” 

The history of that controversy has been too 
frequently and too thoroughly discussed on this 
floor within the last two years to permit me to 
dwell upon it at any length. I must, however, be 
permitted to express my regret that the eminent 
men who had charge of the interests of the South 
at that time ever yielded their consent to a com¬ 
promise which in my judgment is contrary to the 
true theory of the Constitution, irreconcilable 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


139 


with a just regard to the principle of equity 
amongst the States, and which as a mere measure 
of policy, was totally inadequate to the end pro¬ 
posed—of securing perfect harmony upon the 
subject of a division between the different sec¬ 
tions of the Confederacy of that territory which 
was common to all. It never answered its pur¬ 
poses—not for a single year. Scarcely had it 
been passed when it was broken by nearly every 
Northern State. Whenever appealed to by the 
South, it was scorned, derided, and repudiated. 
When in 1850 we proposed the extension of its 
principle to the territory acquired in the Mexican 
war our proposition was contumeliously rejected. 
When in 1854 we finally agreed to repeal in terms 
that which for more than a quarter of a century 
had ceased to have any active effect, it was made 
use of as a subject of vituperation towards the 
South. 

We were accused of violating “plighted faith” 
—with very much the same regard for truth as 
has recently been displayed on this floor in those 
mendacious tales which have been brought to us 
about the state of affairs in Kansas. 

I repeat, Mr. President, the policy of seeking 
for some other compromises than those which are 
contained in the Constitution was a mistaken 
policy on the part of the South. 

The condition of the country this day shows 
the fact. I thank Heaven that the South has at 
length become aware of this mistake. She has 
no longer any compromises to offer or accept. 
She looks to those contained in the Constitution 
itself. By them she will live; to them she will 


140 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

adhere; and if those provisions which are con¬ 
tained in it shall be violated to her wrong, then 
she will calmly and resolutely withdraw from 
a compact all the obligations of which she is 
expected to scrupulously to fulfill, from all the 
benefits of which she is ignominiously excluded. 

Upon each of these occasions, long debate has 
taken place upon the question of the power of 
Congress to exclude slavery from the Territories 
by law. The discussion on this subject has been 
so full and thorough, every aspect in which it 
is capable of being presented has been so minutely 
examined, that I cannot detain the Senate by a 
further discussion of it. This however I will say 
—that all admit that the power to legislate for the 
Territories is nowhere given in express terms in 
the Constitution. It is true, sir, that the honor¬ 
able Senator from New Hampshire (Mr. Hale) 
who opened the discussion on this subject, did say 
something about that power being contained in a 
clause of the Constitution which rests in Con¬ 
gress’ authority to dispose of public property. 
The argument on that point, however, has been 
so often refuted, and was on the occasion so 
triumphantly answered by my friend from Geor¬ 
gia (Mr. Toombs) that it is entirely unnecessary, 
to advert to it any further. Sir, I propose to 
place this question on higher grounds than any 
reference to the mere text of the Constitution. I 
propose to seek for its true spirit; to enquire into 
the true theory; to look into the condition of 
these States when the Constitution was framed; 
and to see whether, from all the circumstances 
that surrounded the adoption of the Constitution, 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 141 

it be possible that Congress can exercise the 
power to exclude slaves from the Territories. In 
connection with this subject, I desire to read a 
passage from the speech of the Senator from 
New York (Mr. Seward), who has given cur¬ 
rency to a fallacy which is popular, which was 
briefly adverted to by my friend from Alabama, 
(Mr. Clay), and I think deserving of some more 
extended consideration. I read this passage from 
that speech: 

“Slavery is an outlaw under the law of Na¬ 
tions. Still further, the Constitution of the 
United States has expressly incorporated into it¬ 
self all of the laws of comity, for regulating the 
intercourse between independent States, which 
it deems proper to adopt. Whatever is forbidden 
expressly by the Constitution is unlawful, ‘what¬ 
ever is not forbidden is lawful.’ 

I maintain on the contrary, that the Constitu¬ 
tion may be just as flagrantly and palpably 
violated by the abuse of powers expressly con¬ 
ceded as by the usurpation of powers expressly 
prohibited. This is no novel doctrine. It obtains 
not only under this Government; it has ever ob- 
taind in all Governments in which Constitutions 
and laws are not mere empty words. Let us take 
up the Constitution, and examine some of its 
clauses in illustration of my meaning. Congress 
shall have power “to establish post offices and 
post roads.” 

Suppose by an increase in the number of the 
free States, they obtain control of the legislative 
and executive departments and then proceed to 
appropriate the money of the Government exclu- 


142 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

sively for postal facilities in those States, refus¬ 
ing all appropriations to the others. It has power 
to “erect forts, magazines, and arsenals.” Sup¬ 
pose a Northern majority to use the common 
fund of the Union for protecting its own coasts, 
and to refuse all appropriations for that purpose 
to the slaveholding States. 

The President with the advice and consent of 
the Senate, “Shall have power to appoint embas¬ 
sadors, Judges of the Court and other public 
officers.” 

Suppose all the officers of the Government to 
be regularly and systematically selected from one 
section of the country, which might possess a 
preponderating power; that every judge, collec¬ 
tor, and postmaster required for service in the 
South should be selected from the North. 

Can any man doubt, sir, that in any of these 
cases, the Constitution would be as clearly and 
shamelessly violated by such an abuse of power 
as it could possibly be by the usurpation of an 
authority not granted? 

Mr. President, quite recently across the At¬ 
lantic, in the country from which we derive most 
of our law and liberty, an attempt was made by the 
Queen to appoint to the House of Lords a single 
peer, with a peerage for life. The power of the 
Crown to appoint peers was undoubted; the 
Ministry advised the appointment; and yet oppo¬ 
sition was made in the House of Lords, and the 
proposition was advanced, maintained, and sus¬ 
tained, that, although the prerogative of creating 
peers existed, the exercise of it, by the creation 
of a life peerage, was an abuse, and contrary to 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 143 

the fundamental constitution of the Kingdom. 
The Crown yielded, and the Lords triumphed. 
Sir, look at your Declaration of Independence. 
Upon what grounds was it that its immortal au¬ 
thor placed the right of the people of this country 
to assert their independence, and to declare that 
for the future they would hold the people of 
Great Britain enemies in war; in peace friends? 
Look at the entire list of grievances. There is 
scarcely one of them that is the usurpation of an 
unconstitutional power; every one of them is the 
abuse of an admitted Constitutional power. Upon 
that principle your Revolution rests. And, sir, 
it is not to-day, nor before a body like this, that 
those who represent Southern interest are to be 
told that the question is, whether a particular 
power is granted by the terms of the Constitu¬ 
tion, without reference to its spirit All feel at 
once, sir, that the instances, which I have sug¬ 
gested would be gross abuses, entirely contrary 
to that spirit. What, then, is the principle that 
underlies that whole compact for our common 
government, and which we should all instictively 
feel to have been outraged by such abuses? It 
is, sir, the equality of the free and independent 
States which that instrument links together in a 
common bond of union—entire, absolute, com¬ 
plete, unqualified, equality—equality as sover¬ 
eigns, equality in their rights, equality in their 
duties. 

This was the spirit that presided over the 
formation of the Constitution; this is the living 
spirit that breathes through every line of it; this 


144 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

is the object professed by it of forming “a more 
perfect union” 

“Great were the thoughts, and strong the minds. 
Of those who framed in high debate 
The immortal league of love that binds 
Our fair, broad empire State to State.” 

And now, sir when the struggle is narrowed 
down to a contest between the Democratic and 
Republican parties, I should be recreant to my 
trust—recreant to every principle of duty and 
feeling of patriotism, if I allowed my conduct to 
be influenced by the memory of past party ties, or 
past party prejudices. On that question whose 
paramount importance overshadows all others the 
Democratic platform is identical with that of the 
old Whig party, and in declaring my adhesion 
to the former, I but change name not prin¬ 
ciple. I, sir, therefore declare my purpose 
to join the Democratic party. I declare my 
intention to use the utmost efforts of my 
feeble abilities to insure its success. In its 
triumph—as triumph it assuredly will—the 
Constitution of my country will be secured 
from the dangers with which it is menaced; 
kind and brotherly feelings amongst the people 
of all sections of the Confederacy will be re¬ 
stored ; religious intolerance will be rebuked; the 
equity of the States, the Kevstone of the arch of 
the government fabric, will be preserved intact, 
and peace and prosperity, and happiness will 
smile on the land. Although coming to this de¬ 
termination, after long and anxious deliberation. 


Memoirs of a Senate P\ge 


US 


my own convictions alone would have sufficed to 
dictate my course; it would be uncandid for me 
not to say, that I feel encouragement from the 
fact that other and abler, and better men than I 
have taken the same view of their duty in this 
crisis, which my own convictions have pointed out 
to me. From all parts of the country, comes the 
cheering intelligence, that gallant, and patriotic, 
and highminded leaders of the old Whig party, 
ever faithful to the conservative principles which 
they have professed, are rallying to the defense 
of the Constitution from the attack of its fanat¬ 
ical assailants. On which sides soever of this 
Chamber I cast my eyes, I behold the men whom 
the Whig party ever delighted to honor, lending 
their courage and strength to the success of that 
common cause, which we together have espoused. 
Sir, the end is not yet; others will follow. The 
time will come and come very soon—sooner than 
thev think. As the designs of the enemy become 
more and more developed, the patriot band will 
be augmented with fresh recruits. Yes, sir; let 
the note of alarm be sounded through the land; 
let the people only be informed; let them be told 
of the momentous crisis which is at hand; they 
will rise in their might, placing their heel on the 
head of the serpent that has glided into their 
Eden, they will crush it to the earth, once and 
forever. 

The latter portion of Mr. Benjamin’s speech 
brought Mr. Hale to his feet with some amusing 
remarks. 

Mr. Hale: Mr. President, I do not intend to 
go into this legal question at all, because. I en- 


'146 Memoirs of a Senate Page 


deavored to get the floor before either of the 
Senators on that point. Whenever I have occa¬ 
sion to quote legal authority on the subject of 
slavery, I shall not go to the Supreme Court of 
the United States which I have twice on this floor 
pronounced to be a citadel of slavery, for which 
I have been censured. I have practiced law some¬ 
what, and I have learned this one lesson—never 
go into the emeny’s camps for witnesses. I will 
abide by this lesson. But, sir, there was one re¬ 
mark of the Senator for Louisiana (Mr. Benja¬ 
min), to which I wish to call attention. I listened 
to that honorable Senator with great pleasure, as 
I always do, on account of his acknowledged abil¬ 
ity, his great eloquence, his very persuasive pow¬ 
ers, his mellifluous voice, his winning and grace¬ 
ful manner. All this only makes me regret that 
he is in a wrong position. He did, however, 
make to-day, one admission for which I thank 
him (to use his own eloquent phrase), from my 
heart of hearts! 

When I saw members of that political com¬ 
munion to which he has joined himself, congratu¬ 
late him, I felt that I should like to recieve such 
an accession. I know, that he will never be put 
on probation, but he will be taken in right away 
the first day; he will be admitted to the third 
degree when he gives the first tap, (laughter), 
there is no doubt about that. When I saw them 
come up and congratulate him and themselves on 
the occasion, as well they might, I wished to 
congratulate the Republican party on just <uch 
another accession. 

There was one sentence which fell from his 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 147 

lips for which I thank him, and for which I con¬ 
gratulate him; and that is a declaration and ad¬ 
mission on the floor of the Senate, which I have 
labored for ten years past to establish in the 
hearts and minds of my northern friends. I have 
spent days and nights, and words and breath, be¬ 
fore a northern constituency, to prove exactly the 
proposition which to-day, thank God, is admitted 
—that on the question of slavery, Whigs and 
Democrats all stand together. Sir, there has been 
more breath spent in northern States before the 
Anti-Slavery men to prove that, than—I was go¬ 
ing to say, has been used in filling your Congres¬ 
sional Globe during the same time, but I know 
that is an extravagant comparison. (Laughter.) 
That has been the position I have taken year in 
and year out. I have seen Whigs sit and listen 
to it with the most complacent incredulity, saying, 
“We don’t believe a word of it.” Sir, a sort of 
convulsive shudder has come over their aristo¬ 
cratic countenance when the idea has been 
broached to them that they are to sit down in the 
same pen with the Locofocos* whom they have 
been abusing all their lives. There has been no 


*A nickname formerly given to a member of the 
Democratic party; first applied in 1834, to a por¬ 
tion of that party which held a meeting in Tam¬ 
many Hall, New York City, where there was 
great diversity of sentiment, the chairman leaving 
his seat and the lights being extinguished, with 
the intention of dissolving the meeting, where¬ 
upon loco-foco matches being produced the lights 
were restored and the wrangling continued. 



148 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


proposition that has been advanced before our 
northern constituencies so abhorrent to these lead¬ 
ers as the fact, that, upon the great question—the 
only question in which politics has any sense or 
meaning at the present day, Whigs and Demo¬ 
crats are just exactly the same thing. 


After the long season of speech-making on 
Kansas, and when the tide of ill-feeling ran high, 
the time was propitious for Mr. Cass and Mr. 
Crittenden, the oldest men in the Senate, to give 
fatherly advice to the “boys,” and summon them 
to the country’s relief, and imbue them with the 
spirit that unites States, which things were para¬ 
mount to all other considerations attaching to the 
subject, and wherein they all seemed to have 
forgotten themselves. 

Mr. Cass: I have heard this subject mentioned 
repeatedly, but I never took any notice of it be¬ 
fore. It is said there is a difference of construc¬ 
tion between the North and the South on the 
Kansas-Nebraska act. Necessarily it must be so; 
and if the honorable gentleman from Illinois 
(Mr. Trumbull) could not see that, he was not 
able to see very far into this millstone. 

Those who believe that slavery goes to the 
Territories under the Constitution proprio vigore, 
of course believe that no power is given to the 
Legislature to prohibit slavery. But those who 
believe, as I do, that there is no such constitu¬ 
tional provision, believe of course, that the Ter¬ 
ritorial Legislature has the power to legislate on 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 149 

this, as on any other subject. The difference does 
not result from the words of that bill, but from 
the nature of things. The North and the South 
construe the Constitution differently. The South 
consider that the Constitution gives them the 
right of carrying their slaves anywhere in the 
Territories. If they are right, you can give no 
power to the Territorial Legislature to interfere 
with them. The major part of the North believe 
that the Constitution secures no such rights to 
the South. They believe of course, that this pow¬ 
er is given to the Legislature. I repeat to the 
honorable Senator from Illinois (Mr. Trumbull) 
there is nothing equivocal in the act. The dif¬ 
ferent constructions of it result from no equivo¬ 
cation, of it, but from the fact that here is an 
important constitutional question undetermined 
by the Supreme Judicial authority, and in the 
mean time individuals in different sections of the 
Union put their own construction on it. We are 
necessarily brought to that state of things. There 
is no power which the Senator from Illinois can 
use—no words which he can put into an act of 
Congress, that will remove the Constitutional 
doubt until it is finally settled by the proper trib¬ 
unal. 

The Senator says that it is contended by many 
that the provisions of that bill have reference to 
the power of the people when they are establish¬ 
ing a State government. Why, sir, when the 
people are forming a State government they do 
not come to Congress to get power to establish 
their Constitution. They want no such power 
from you. You have no right to give it. All the 


150 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

power you can exercise on that point is to bring 
them together; but when they are once brought 
together they are totally independent of you. 
When I refer to the principle of the Kansas- 
Nebraska act, I mean the great principle of the 
right of the people to legislate for themselves. 
I have never heard any man deny the right of the 
people of a State to allow slavery. I have heard 
a Senator to-day say that if a State came here 
with such a provision in her Constitution he 
would not vote to admit her; but I did not hear 
even him say that they had not the power to do 
it. I have never known a man in this broad land 
who denied the power of the people of any State 
to insert in their Constitution a provision exclud¬ 
ing slavery. Then, that is no principle of the 
Kansas act. It is all idle to talk of that being 
the principal of that act. Sir, that is not a prin¬ 
cipal dependent on you. It belongs to the people 
themselves. It is a portion of their rights which 
you cannot take away. It is not given by this 
act, nor secured by this act. It exists without the 
act. 

I say, again, that any doubts which arise upon 
that bill result from the nature of things. Wheth¬ 
er you provided that what they did should be 
subject to the Constitution of the United States 
or not, always appeared to me to be perfectly im¬ 
material for a very plain reason. If you pass a 
legislative act contrary to the Constitution, it is 
void; and it makes no difference whether or not 
you provide that it shall be subject to the Con¬ 
stitution. The insertion of those words does not 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 151 

strengthen one power. It does not create cr re¬ 
move a doubt. 

Mr. Hale: I ask the attention of the Senator 
from Michigan for a moment. I have heard 
much about the “great principal of the Kansas- 
Nebraska bill.” The Senator from Michigan 
says that great principle is not that the people 
have the power to introduce or exclude slavery in 
the formation of a State Constitution. Will he 
be kind enough to tell me what the great principle 
of that bill is? 

Mr. Cass: The honorable gentleman might 
have saved himself that question. I have already 
said, the great principle of that bill is the recogni¬ 
tion of the people of a Territory to legislate for 
themselves over all subjects not prohibited by the 
Constitution. That act first embodied these 
words in our Statute book. That is all there 
is of it. 

The great principal of that pact, in my opinion, 
is the principal which, on the 24 of December, 
1622, your ancestors and mine adopted the day 
before they landed at Plymouth beach. As I ob¬ 
served the other day, it was quite a child then, 
but it grew up on the 4th of July, 1776, to be a 
man. Lord North then—the Senator from New 
Hampshire now—calls it squatter sovereignty, 
and endeavors to slur it over; but let me tell 
him that it is not to be beaten down by any 
epithet. I call it the right of man to govern 
himself. 


152 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

Mr. Crittenden. Sir, we hear the dissolution 
of the Union talked about as eminently depending 
upon our proceedings. I am sure it is as painful 
to many others, as it is to me, to hear this sort 
of argument in terromem so frequently applied. 
There is no argument upon any subject of con¬ 
sequence nowadays, particularly if it touches the 
Constitution, which is very apt in our discussions, 
to take place, but that the weakest, as well as the 
most powerful arguments, are always reinforced 
by this sort of threat or menace of a dissolution 
of the Union—do this, that, or the other, and 
the Union will be dissolved. It is a sort of 
thunder of all political orders, here and else¬ 
where, and in this country there is more of that 
sort used than ever Jupiter Tonans himself pos¬ 
sessed and used, though, perhaps, with less effect, 
with more freedom and upon smaller occasions a 
great deal than ever his thunders were. If he 
had used it with half the prodigality that this 
sort of thunder is used in our rhetoric, it would 
have been difficult to supply him with it. Sir, 
this Union is not that fragile sort of thing that is 
supposed by some. I have an idea that it is a very 
powerful, deepseated, and enduring structure 
with us. Who is there to destroy it? Who de¬ 
sires to destroy it? The greatest danger appre¬ 
hended by a number, I believe, is, that the ex¬ 
treme sensibility of the North upon the subject of 
Slavery, is the feeling in the country which en¬ 
dangers the value as well as the perpetuity of this 
Union. The South is talked about as aggressive. 
Why, sir, the wolf might as well talk about the 
lamb being aggressive! You are aggressive; you 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


153 


are the most powerful in numbers, the most pow¬ 
erful in representation, the great dominant por¬ 
tion of the United States. As those relative 
proportions are likely to be kept up, who is the 
most likely to be the aggressor? All that the 
South desires, is to possess her rights in peace. 
It would be a very poor policy for her, by aggres¬ 
sion, to keep up a continual agitation on the sub¬ 
ject of Slavery. It is in reference to that dan- 
generous subject that she is particularly solicitous 
to keep quiet, and to keep the subject quiet. She 
does not doubt her ability to maintain her rights 
in respect to it but she desires to enjoy those 
rights in fraternal peace with all the other parts 
of the Union. Gentlemen of the North think that 
the South desire to extend slavery; that that is 
a predominant feeling in their hearts. Gentlemen 
I can say to you in great sincerity, that you are 
entirely mistaken on that point. That is not the 
anxiety of the South. It does not occupy the 
thoughts of one man out of ten thousand, half a 
day in the year. I will tell you what is the 
anxiety of the South. That our fellow-citizens 
consider it as a reproach against the South that 
they hold slaves; that the North desires to refuse 
to them their equal and common participation in 
the enjoyment and settlements of public lands of 
the United States, which they regard as common 
right, and the inheritance of all that is an incident 
of that common right for them to go there with 
their slaves, as you go there with your property. 
This they consider to be right and equitable. If 
you and I own a tract of land, and you dislike 
slavery, and I am free to have it, can you com- 


154 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


plain that I have slaves to cultivate my part of 
it, while you prefer white labor for yours? You 
will have no right to complain. But I do not 
intend to argue with you any question upon 
this subject. This Union is a thing not easily 
dissolved; but I grant you it may be worn into, as 
they say a constant attrition wears away a rock, 
But I do not believe that that attrition is to go on. 
I believe in the intelligence of the people of every 
quarter of this Union. Instead of exaggerating 
this question of slavery in Kansas, and consider¬ 
ing it as a question which will dissolve the Union, 
if a man will sit down, divest himself of all ex¬ 
citement on the subject, and look at it, and ask 
himself of what consequence it is to me, and to 
this great Republic of thirty-one States, soon to 
be many more, whether Kansas is admitted as a 
free State or a Slave State, in that point of view 
it is a question of much less importance than we 
regard it, or as it regards any national interest 
Let the people of Kansas decide this question 
of slavery for themselves; let them decide it free¬ 
ly and fairly; let there be no invasion of their 
rights; allow no one to be driven from the polls; 
give them a fair election and that at any period 
of time in the future which may be thought best 
to suit the free expression of their will; wait un¬ 
til the time shall come, until the means of protec¬ 
tion in the exercise of the right shall be seen to 
be sound and effectual, and until there shall be a 
population there competent to form a State, and 
competent to decide this great question. Talk 
about Squatter Sovereignty! If this Topeka 
Convention is not the most illustrious case of it 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 153 

ever seen, I am mistaken. Before squatter 
sovereignty was confined by our own laws, and 
a sense of right, but here, constitution-making is 
to be governed by squatter sovereignty. I do not 
believe in it all. There is a people of the United 
States. That is my sovereignty. This Territory 
belongs to the people of the United States, and 
we are here to preserve and maintain that sover¬ 
eignty and that dominion. The lands are ours. 
The people are there by our permission, and not 
otherwise. The people are there with such polit¬ 
ical rights as we under the Constitution, may ex¬ 
tend to them, and no more. That is my view of 
that question. Sir, I have said more already than 
I intended to say upon the subject. I wish the 
Union to be preserved. I wish it to be preserved 
in its spirit. I wish to preserve it by the love and 
affection of every section of the country, not only 
for their constitution but for one another, and a 
man reproaching his fellow-citizens for holding 
this or that description of property, sanctioned 
and authorized by law. Ours is a political con¬ 
nection. Ours is a political compact; and that 
instrument settles all our rights of property and 
we ought to be content to abide by that compact 
in its spirit, and not undertake to confine it be¬ 
cause we chose to nurture in our bosoms a partial 
lar sensibility about this, that, or the other theory 
in regard to property authorized by the Constitu¬ 
tion. These things ought to be wiped away in or¬ 
der to give full sway for American feeling and 
the union of the American heart. For my single 
self, I, and I will say for my constituents also, we 
stand by the Union. That is our place—There 


156 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

we stand and there we will stand. We will 
maintain to the last. We shall expect our rights 
to be respected. We desire to live in the bonds 
of amity as well as in the bonds of Constitutional 
law. The portion of the Union holding slaves is 
not the aggressive portion of the Union. The 
very statement of the case would show that it 
cannot be, and it is the greatest folly upon earth, 
a perfect fatuity, to say it. They want security. 
That is what they desire. They are not in the 
attitude of aggression. They are in the attitude of 
a party upon which aggression is to be made, and 
who may have cause to fear it. They want no 
controversy whatever with their fellow-citizens 
of any section of the Union. This is all that I 
have to say, the result of it all is, that the remedy 
proposed by the gentleman from New York is an 
impracticable one, it is unreasonable as I think, 
and ought not to be passed. It is dangerous, im¬ 
proper, and unreasonable, and cannot therefore 
be passed, but if the gentleman will, because his 
favored measure cannot be passed, refuse all re¬ 
lief to Kansas he must bear the evils upon her. 
She is remediless . . . and so far as regards 

the votes of those gentlemen who may take that 
position, I think they are unjustified by true pol¬ 
icy or by a true sense of duty, however they may 
regard it in taking such a ground. 


It was after this that Judge Clayton delivered 
a great speech in advocacy of compromise 
measures. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


157 


XVIII. 

CLAYTON: SCHOLAR AND STATESMAN. 

Senator Bayard (James A. Bayard of Dela¬ 
ware), declared that he did not believe a jury 
lawyer superior to Clayton had ever lived in this 
country. In the court-room, with his full powers 
exerted toward winning his case, he was grand. 
Personal attractiveness and intellectual endow¬ 
ments, counter-balanced by a tall, commanding 
figure and fine countenance, made him a counsel 
without rival, and one much sought after. He 
was first elected to the Senate from Delaware, in 
1829, at the age of thirty-three; and was the 
youngest member of that body. Being a Yale 
graduate and a scholar of high attainments, he 
became an impressive speaker on the floor of the 
Senate, employing elegant and forceful language, 
delivered in an easy, graceful style. His career 
was distinguished throughout; his statesmanship 
was of international renown, and the State of 
Delaware bestowed upon him every honor within 
her gift. 

President Taylor, recognizing his fitness for 
high place, induced him to accept the portfolio of 
State in his cabinet, which post he graced with 
pronounced ability; but upon the death of the 
President, Mr. Clayton retired from publice life. 


158 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

Having negotiated the famous Clayton-Bul- 
wer treaty with Great Britain, an attack upon 
it in the Senate in 1853, aroused the people of 
Delaware to such a pitch, that both houses of 
the Legislature met at once and returned him to 
his old seat, that he might meet his assailants 
upon equal ground. He remained a member un¬ 
til 1856, when he passed away quietly at his home. 

With his keen sense of penetration, he foresaw 
the difficulties that later arose over Kansas affairs, 
and in July 1856, spoke upon the question and 
revolved it, so to speak, in the light of compro¬ 
mise. 

Mr. Clayton: Mr. President, as I now find a 
large majority of the Senate present, I must be 
pardoned for addressing them on the topics con¬ 
nected with this bill. I feel deep anxiety on these 
subjects. I have never known a period, from the 
first day I entered this Hall when I thought the 
country is in so much danger as I believe it to 
be at the present moment. It is my most anxious 
desire to offer whatever I can to gentlemen on 
both sides of the Chamber, to induce them to 
compromise the differences between the northern 
and southern sections of the country. ‘‘Compro¬ 
mise”! Alas, sir, this day I have heard that 
word, which always heretofore dear to every true 
American statesman spoken of with contumely 
and contempt. I have been this day told the 
period for compromising is passed. Sir, if the 
period for compromising is passed, this Repub¬ 
lic will soon pass away with it. The Constitution 
of this country itself was but a compromise. We 
have been told by the fathers of the country that 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 159 

no one man came out of the Convention which 
formed the Constitution, who had not opposition 
to some section or clause in it. Sir, the whole 
world is full of compromises, and chaos would 
come again without them. Every law we pass is 
but a compromise. No man in civil society—no 
man even in a despotic government, has ever yet 
been permitted to have his own way. No man 
in this Nation, not even the “Father of his Coun¬ 
try,” was ever permitted to dictate his own terms 
in every particular in the passage of any measure 
in Congress or Convention. We vote every day 
for some measure, to some portion of which we 
have obj ections; but we vote on every proposition 
in view, and are governed by the consideration of 
the good to be derived from the whole of it. 
Every treaty made between two nations is but a 
compromise. Men could not live together in civil 
society, they could not associate in public or priv¬ 
ate life, without compromising every day; and if 
we have arrived at the determination that we will 
never again compromise, we may as well throw 
our Constitution to the winds, and consider the 
Republic at an end. 

Sir, I hope the honorable gentlemen from New 
York and Massachusetts will yet take the true 
and only legitimate and proper view of the ques¬ 
tion which is now really before us. They say, 
and for the sake of the argument, though I know 
nothing officially of the facts, I mean now to 
admit, that the Legislative Assembly of Kansas 
was elected by the people of Missouri, they say 
that, out of six thousand, two hundred votes, four 
thousand nine hundred were from that State, and 


160 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

one thousand four hundred and twenty from the 
Territory itself. Now grant all that, yet does it 
follow as a legal influence or as a fair and just 
one, that you must for that reason strike out of 
existence all the laws passed by that Legislature ? 
You say the Legislative authority in Kansas was 
a rank usurpation. Grant it. 

What has been the rule that has governed those 
ancestors from whom we have derived not only 
our descent, but our common law, and all those 
great fundamental principles upon which we have 
built up our own government? What has been 
the rule in our own country, as well as in Eng¬ 
land, in regard to laws passed by bodies usurping 
power, or whose power had been subverted ? Go 
back even to the time when the Normans con¬ 
quered the Saxon, and produced and entire revo¬ 
lution in England. When the Plantagenets 
ascended the throne of England, were all the 
Anglo-Saxon laws abolished, and swept away? 
Not at all. They were reformed, but their au¬ 
thority as laws was solemnly recognized and con¬ 
firmed. The historian informs us that “the 
States of the Anglo-Saxon Kings, with the 
provincial customs, were acknowledged and re¬ 
peatedly confirmed.” 

When the Plantagenets ceased to exist—when 
Richard the III. fell upon the field of Bosworth, 
and the Tudors came into power, did they, though 
they considered Richard a usurper, for that rea¬ 
son abolish all the laws he had made? On the 
contrary, did they not continue all the just laws 
of that and other reigns, although the govern¬ 
ment of the New King was predicted upon the 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 161 

belief that the reign of Richard was a usurpation 
from the commencement to the close of it? Com¬ 
ing down, then, in the history of England to the 
days when the Stuarts were first driven from the 
throne for ursurpation and tyranny; when 
Charles the I. was beheaded; when Oliver Crom¬ 
well succeeded him though that government was 
treated as a tyranny. Yet did they abolish all 
the laws made during that tyranny ? Take a still 
stronger and plainer case, and more analogous, if 
you choose; when Cromwell died, Charles II. 
succeeded him, did those who had considered the 
government of Cromwell as a sheer usurpation, 
from the beginning to the end of it, abolish all 
the laws passed in the days of the Protectorate? 
Though Cromwell was, at the time, universally 
denounced as a traitor and usurper, and his dead 
body was disinterred, suspended on a gibbet, and 
then buried at the foot of it, no one offered to 
abolish all the laws enacted during the Protector¬ 
ate. And such has been the result of every revo¬ 
lution in England. In 1688, another revolution 
occurred. A more abhorred tyrant was never i 
driven from a throne than the last of the Stuarts. 1 
Yet all the laws and ordinances of his reign were 
not swept away. When the American Colonies! 
achieved their independence, their revolution wasl 
not followed by the abrogation of all laws which 1 
had been enacted during the existence of the 
British domination. The rule among nations andi 
statesmen is, when laws considered salutary and] 
useful to society have been passed by a usurper or 
tyrant, instead of what is now claimed, that the 
legitimate consequence of the usurpation or 


1 62 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

. % 4 SJte 

tyranny is the abrogation of all the laws, the just 
consequence is, a repeal of all the unjust and 
oppressive laws, and a retention of all that are 
just and salutary. Suffer all to stand that are 
deemed by you for the benefit of all the public, 
and reform those that you consider unjust, 
oppressive, or inexpedient. Sir, that is the true 
principle by which we should be guided and gov¬ 
erned now. 

I cannot, therefore, concur with the honorable 
gentlemen from Massachusetts and New York in 
abrogating all the laws of Kansas. If they should 
prove by thousands of witnesses, that the Legis¬ 
lative Council was elected exclusively by Missou¬ 
rians, and that there was not a single inhabitant 
of Kansas at the election, still, for the good of 
the whole country and especially for the benefit 
of the people of the Territory, we must suffer 
those laws that are for the public good to remain. 
Otherwise we abandon all precedents, and disre¬ 
gard all the wisdom of our British ancestors and 
of our own fathers and leave the Territory in 
Anarchy. 


The reader having followed the course of 
reminiscence to this page, it now falls upon me 
to speak to him between the lines. He has con¬ 
scientiously pushed back the hands of the clock 
until they bespoke the time of our narrative; and 
as the characters, plaintively recalling almost for¬ 
gotten days, entered upon the stage, the touch as 
of a magic hand seemed to bring enchantment 
over all the surroundings, and he began to 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 163 

breathe the atmosphere of a departed age. How 
agreeable was that old time, when men were not 
so swiftly pursuing wealth as now, and more time 
was given to the exercise and enjoyment of 
things upon which lofty sentiment was built. It 
was an age when high value was placed upon 
merit whenever found, and men were chosen 
where now other natures force their way. So 
many things were different in the political arena. 
The party issues were clear, then, and party lines 
sharply drawn. There is an anecdote which 
illustrates how strong was the feeling down in 
East Tennessee. William G. Browlow, the 
“Fighting Parson” was a Whig, and “old 
Father Aiken,” an eccentric Methodist preacher, 
a Democrat. The two attended a camp meeting; 
Browlow preached, and Aiken offered prayer. 
In the prayer Aiken besought the Lord to for¬ 
give the sins of the people, to deliver them from 
every evil. “O Lord,” he prayed, “deliver us 
from Whiggery.” “God, forbid!” shouted 
Browlow. Turning to him, Aiken said, “Billy, 
keep still when I am praying.” 

The Whig party had about dissolved in 1856. 
There were but two members of it in the Senate, 
namely, Crittenden and Bell. These two political 
orphans, never allied themselves to either the 
Democrats or Republicans. 


164 Memoirs of a Senate Page 


XIX. 

THE LECOMPTON SWINDLE. 

One evening in March, 1858, the Senate 
Chamber was brilliantly illuminated, the galler¬ 
ies overflowed with the tide of crinoline, silk, 
and satin; the array of the beauty and fashion of 
the Capitol was of a festal order, for word had 
gone forth that “Douglas speaks to-night,” and 
Douglas was the idol of the day. “The Little 
Giant” came in a moment or two before 7 
o’clock, and proceeding to his seat was greeted 
by an outburst of wildest applause. 

In his speech this night he was going to an¬ 
tagonize the President. It was a hard fight he 
was having with this bill, and all his energies 
were being put to the severest test. The con¬ 
stitution of Kansas which had been drafted at 
Lecompton, and under which the State would 
have entered the Union with the “shackles of 
slavery,” had been rejected by a popular vote in 
the Territory, as it did not embody the will of 
the people. President Buchanan, following the 
course of his predecessor Pierce, yielded to the 
pro-slavery contestants, and supported this Le¬ 
compton act, which was a fraud, pure and simple. 

With all the vehemence, disdain, and boldness, 
of his style, and all the fire of his soul, Douglas, 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 165 

the Demosthenes, making the ablest effort of his 
life, aroused the throng that filled all available 
space, to continued and uncontrollable enthusi¬ 
asm. After a brief review of his career in 
Congress, he touched upon the Compromise of 
1850, then assailed the Lecompton Constitution 
as being contrary to the wish of the people of 
Kansas, and finally referred to the Executive in¬ 
fluence brought to bear. His tones rang clear 
like the blast of a trumpet, and he showed no 
fatigue at any period. A portion of his speech 
follows: 

“Sirs,—I do not recognize the right of the 
President or his Cabinet, no matter what my 
respect may be for them, to tell me my duty in 
the Senate Chamber. The President has his 
duty to perform under the Constitution; and he 
is responsible to his constituency. A Senator 
has his duties to perform here under the Con¬ 
stitution and according to his oath; and he is 
responsible to the Sovereign State which he 
represents as his constituency. A member of the 
House of Representatives has his duties under 
the Constitution and his oath; and he is respon¬ 
sible to the people that elected him. 

The President has no more right to prescribe 
tests to Senators than Senators have to the 
President. Suppose we here should attempt to 
prescribe a test of faith to the President of the 
United States; would he not rebuke our im¬ 
pertinence and imprudence as subversive of the 
fundamental principles of the Constitution? 
Would he not tell us that the Constitution and 
his oath and his conscience were his guide; that 


166 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

we must perform our duties, and he would per¬ 
form his, and let each be responsible to his own 
constituency? Sir? Whenever the time comes 
that the President of the United States can 
change the allegiance of the Senators from the 
State to himself, what becomes of the Sov¬ 
ereignty of the States? When the time comes 
that a Senator is to account to the Executive 
and not to his State, whom does he represent? 
If the will of my State is one way, and the will 
of the President is the other, am I to be told that 
I must obey the Executive and betray my State, 
or else be branded as a traitor to the party, and 
be hunted down by all the newspapers that share 
the patronage of the Government and every man 
who holds a petty office in any part of' my State 
to have the question put to him, “Are you 
Douglas’ enemy?” if not, “your head comes off.” 
Why? “Because he is a recreant Senator; be¬ 
cause he chooses to follow his judgment and his 
conscience, and represent his State instead of 
obeying my executive request.” I should like 
to know what is the use of Congress, what is the 
use of Senates and Houses of Representatives, 
when their highest duty is to obey the Executive 
in disregard of the wishes, rights and honor of 
their constituents. What despotism on earth 
would be equal to this, if you establish the doc¬ 
trine that the Executive has a right to command 
the votes, the consciences, the judgments of the 
Senators and of the Representatives, instead of 
their constituents ? In Old England, whose 
oppressions we thought intolerable, an Admin¬ 
istration is hurled from power in an hour when 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 167 

voted down by the representatives of the people 
on a Government measure. If the rule of Old 
England applied here, this Cabinet would have 
gone out of office when the Army bill was voted 
down, the other day, in the House of Repre¬ 
sentatives. There, in that monarchical country, 
where they have a Queen by divine right, and 
lords by the grace of God, and wnere repub¬ 
licanism is supposed to have but a slight foot¬ 
hold, the representatives of the people can check 
the Throne, restrain the Government and change 
the Ministry, and give a new direction to the 
policy of the Government, without being ac¬ 
countable to the King or the Queen. There the 
representatives of the people are responsible to 
their constituents. Across the Channel, under 
Louis Napoleon, it may be otherwise; yet I 
doubt whether it would be so boldly proclaimed 
there that a man is a traitor for claiming to vote 
according to his sense of duty, according to the 
will of his State, according to the interests of 

his constituents. 

Is it seriously intended to brand every Demo¬ 
crat in the United States as a traitor who is 
opposed to the Lecompton Constitution? If so, 
do your friends in Pennsylvania desire any 
traitors to vote with them next fall? We are 
traitors if we vote against Lecompton; our con¬ 
stituents are traitors if they do not think Le¬ 
compton is right ,* and yet you expect those 
whom you call traitors to vote with and sustain 
you? Are you to read out of the party every 
man who thinks it wrong to force a constitu¬ 
tion on a people against their will? If so, what 


i68 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

will be the size of the Administration party in 
New York? what will it be in Pennsylvania? 
how many will it number in Ohio, or in 
Indiana, or in Illinois, or in any other northern 
State? Surely you do not expect the support of 
those whom you brand as renegades! Would it 
not be well to allow all freemen, freedom of 
thought, freedom of speech, and freedom of 
action? Would it not be well to allow each Sen¬ 
ator and Representative to vote according to his 
judgment, and perform his duty according to his 
own sense of his obligation to himself, and to 
his State, and to his God? 

For my own part, Mr. President, come what 
may, I intend to vote, speak and act, according 
to my own sense of duty, so long as I hold a seat 
in this Chamber. I have no defense to make of 
my Democracy. I have no profession to make 
of my fidelity. I have no vindication to make 
of my course. Let it speak for itself. 

The insinuations that I am acting with the 
Republicans, or Americans, has no tenor and 
will not drive me from my duty or propriety. It 
is an argument for which I have no respect. 
When I saw the Senator from Virginia acting 
with the Republicans on the neutrality laws, in 
support of the President, I did not feel it to be 
my duty to taunt him with voting with those to 
whom he happened to be opposed in general 
politics. When I saw the Senator from Georgia 
acting with the Republicans upon the Army bill, 
it did not impair my confidence in his fidelty to 
principle. When I see Senators here every day 
acting with the Republicans on various ques- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 169 

tions, it only shows me that they have indepen¬ 
dence and self-respect enough to go according 
to their own convictions of duty without being 
influenced by the course of others. I have no 
professions to make on any of these points. I 
intend to perform my duty in accordance with 
my own convictions. Neither the frowns of 
power nor the influence of patronage will change 
my action, or drive me from my principles. I 
stand firmly, immovably upon those great prin¬ 
ciples of self-government and State Sovereignty, 
upon which the campaign was fought and the 
election won. I stand by the time-honored 
principles of the Democratic party, illustrated by 
Jefferson and Jackson; those principles of State 
rights, of State Sovereignty, of strict construc¬ 
tion, on which the great Democratic party has 
ever stood. I will stand by the Constitution of 
the United States, with all its compromises, and 
perform all my obligations under it. I will 
stand by the American Union as it exists under 
the Constitution. If standing firmly by my 
principles, I shall be driven into private life, it 
is a fate that has no terrors for me. I prefer 
private life, preserving my own self-respect and 
manhood, to abject and servile submission to 
executive will. I am prepared to retire. Official 
position has no charms for me when deprived of 
that freedom of thought and action which a 
gentleman and Senator should have. 

Mr. President,—I owe an apology to the Sen¬ 
ate for the desultory manner in which I have 
discussed this question. My health has been so 
feeble for some time past, that I have not been 


170 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

able to arrange my thoughts or the order in 
which they should be presented. If, in the heat 
of debate I have expressed a sentiment which 
would seem to be unkind or disrespectful to any 
Senator, I shall regret it. While I intend to 
maintain, firmly and fearlessly, my own views, 
far be it from me to impugn the motives or 
question the propriety of the action of any other 
Senator. I take it for granted that each Senator 
will obey the dictates of his own conscience, and 
will be accountable to his constituents for the 
course he may think proper to pursue. 


The Lecompton meeting resulted in a fraud 
constitution, and the State of Kansas would 
have become a fact by the vote of 33 as against 
25, in the United States Senate; but the bill 
failed of passage in the House of Representa¬ 
tives, and therefore, it was not until later, in the 
year 1861, that Kansas was admitted to the 
Union, and then it was upon a structure exclud¬ 
ing slavery. It was a matter of much gratifica¬ 
tion to the northern men (Republicans) that 
Douglas voted steadily with them against the 
admission of the State under the Lecompton act. 

Before the question was put to a vote there 
was much delay, and this delay brought some 
very apt remarks from the witty Mr. Hale, who 
said: 

We all know what to-morrow means legisla¬ 
tively. I remember when I first came into the 
House of Representatives a good while ago, a 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 171 

motion was introduced, and some gentlemen 
moved to postpone it until to-morrow. It was 
a new member who had made the motion, and 
he objected. An old member sat by him, and 
said it was only until to-morrow. The young 
man gave up, and that to-morrow he did not 
reach for three months. The proposition here 
is to postpone this matter until to-morrow. 

Mr. Green: Will the Senator permit me to 
ask him if it is in that view that he moves to 
postpone the Minnesota bill until to-morrow? 
(Laughter). 

Mr. Hale: I do not move to postpone it to 
any particular time, but to put it aside for the 
purpose of deciding this question. I want to 
follow the organ of the Committee on Territories 
as far as I can with safety; and I do not know 
that that would be a great way. (Laughter). 
His zeal seemed to be to hurry up Kansas, so 
that Minnesota should not overtake her; now it 
seems that they have got Kansas along to such 
a place that they have concluded to put her up 
to the stall, and let her stand until Minnesota 
comes up and goes ahead. I object to it. I feel 
just as patriotic now as I did last Thursday. 
There has been no change in me; none at all. I 
feel just as desirous to do justice to Kansas now 
as I did then. If there are any reasons—any 
particular reasons of a public character—let 
them be stated; and if there are any of a private 
character I should like to hear them. I would 
not call any man to order if he should state 
private reasons. I would not object to any man 
saying something like this if he chose: “There 


172 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

are some arguments that I want to address to 
some members of the House, that it will not do 
to address in open debate; and I want the thing 
kept open until I can have an opportunity of 
talking privately with some gentlemen and press¬ 
ing upon their private ear some considerations 
which are not proper or not expedient to be ad¬ 
dressed in open debate.” We all know, or per¬ 
haps we do not all know it, but it is a fact, that 
it is a part of the discipline of some churches, 
when there is a recusant member, to go out with 
him privately, before they can take public steps; 
to give private admonition before public censure 
comes; and I would not object if anything of 
that sort were in the way; but I think we owe 
it to the country, we owe it to ourselves, we owe 
it to our reputation, to assign some plausible 
reason why we have got over the haste that 
impeded us forward last week. What new 
feature is there? The news of the Connecticut 
election, of course, has nothing to do with it— 
not the slightest—(Laughter). What possible 
object can there be in postponing, from day to 
day, a subject about which we were in such hot 
haste a little while ago? Why, sir, a few weeks 
ago we were in such a hurry to dispose of 
Kansas that we had to sit up here until morning 
light; until six o’clock in the morning. 

Mr. Fessenden. The business was pressing at 
that time? 

Mr. Hale. Yes, sir, public business was press¬ 
ing then; and it has been pressing up to a 
certain point, and I should like to know where 
is the point, and what is the occasion? It used 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 173 

to be a maxim of the old philosophers that the 
atmospheric pressure would sustain a hydraulic 
column of thirty-three feet; and it puzzled the 
philosophers to tell why the pressure of the 
atmosphere would sustain a hydraulic column of 
thirty-three feet and would not sustain it any 
higher. The reason assigned was, That Nature 
abhorred a vacuum, but when it got up to thirty- 
three feet she ceased to abhor a vacuum. 
(Laughter.) Now, sir, have we got to that point 
where we cease to abhor a vacuum in legisla¬ 
tion? 


*74 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


XX. 


THE ADVERSARY OF DOUGLAS. 

When the news reached the Capitol that 
James S. Green, of Missouri, had been elected to 
the Senate, a Missouri representative in the 
House said, “ ‘The Little Giant’ will meet his 
match now.” Green knew more law than nine- 
tenths of the men who came to the Senate. His 
speeches were bristling with legal points, and as 
a debater he was a foeman to be feared. He 
was a tall, gaunt man, rather awkward withal, 
with a countenance that showed him to be a 
thinker. He was droll in his way, and had a 
habit of dwelling upon the word “and” with his 
long finger extended, giving a peculiar emphasis 
to the remainder of the sentence. 

He soon began the attack on Mr. Douglas, and 
in December, 1857, delivered a speech with a 
facility of argument that displayed strength and 
skill, equal to that of some of the best among 
his hearers. 

Mr. Green: Mr. President, when on Wed¬ 
nesday last, the honorable Senator from Illinois 
(Mr. Douglas) addressed the Senate, I was 
completely taken by surprise. I was surprised 
not only that he should have made his remarks 
at that time, but I was still more surprised at 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 175 

the manner and the matter of the speech. He 
himself stated, if I recollect correctly, that the 
President had made no recommendation on the 
subject of Kansas. It is a fact known by us 
all that no application on the part of Kansas was 
before Congress in any shape. If therefore, 
there was neither an Executive recommendation 
nor an application upon the part of Kansas 
wherefore should the subject have been thrust 
on the attention of the country ? When practical 
action is required on the part of Senators, the 
views of Senators are expected to be elicited; 
but when neither an Executive recommendation 
required any practical action, nor any applica¬ 
tion on the part of Kansas had been made, it 
seemed to be most extraordinary that we should 
be compelled to engage in an abstract discussion 
with no reference to practical results. It is not 
my purpose to inquire into the motive of the 
honorable Senator. I am willing to concede, as 
I do, that it was patriotic; but I must think it 
very improper. It was well calculated to preju¬ 
dice the question now pending before the people 
of Kansas. 

An election is to be held on the 21st of this 
month, and the public mind was prepared to see 
the people go forward and express their prefer¬ 
ences for and against, as the question may be 
presented to them; but his speech going as a 
counter manifesto to the just and fair message 
of the Executive of this Government, is well 
calculated, though no doubt not designed, to 
prejudice that question before the people of 
Kansas, as well as before the people of the 


176 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

country. But, sir, whether the question has 
rightfully or wrongfully brought up for consid¬ 
eration, it is now before us; and justice to the 
Executive, justice to the question itself, justice 
to the people of Kansas, and justice to my own 
State, which cannot fail to feel a deep interest 
in the proper adjustment and final settlement of 
the question, require that I should meet, and, as 
far as I may be able, counteract the positions 
assumed by the honorable Senator from Illinois. 

The honorable Senator from Illinois sets out 
with imputing to the President a “fundamental 
error.” Before we can discuss we must have 
the issue presented. Before our arguments can 
have a practical bearing on the question before 
the Senate, it is necessary that we should under¬ 
stand what that question is. In what, according 
to the positions assumed by the Senator from 
Illinois, does this “fundamental error,” consist? 
I understand him to say that the “fundamental 
error,” into which he charged the President with 
having fallen, is that the President says there 
was no law in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, in the 
Constitution of the country, or in the common 
usages of the Government, that made it oblig¬ 
atory on the convention of Kansas to submit 
their constitution to a subsequent vote of the 
people. This is the imputed “fundamental 
error,” to that point I shall direct the attention 
of the Senate. 

It is not for me to say whether the propriety 
of the submission of the slave branch of that 
constitution to a separate vote ought to have 
been considered by the Executive or not. I 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 177 

, t-T*. ■*’ 

choose not to trace in the course of his reasoning 
on the subject. I choose rather to notice the 
conclusion at which he has arrived—a conclusion 
that promises a full adjustment of this whole 
question; that promises peace to the country; 
that promises satisfaction to the North, and to 
the South; and that promises to remove a bone 
of contention over which the public mind has 
been too much harassed for the last several 
years. The real practical question, then, which 
we have to consider is this; ought Kansas, when 
her Constitution shall be presented, be admitted 
into the Union? or ought the consideration of 
what the honorable Senator from Illinois calls 
a “fundamental error,” of the President to be 
deemed a sufficient reason to keep Kansas out of 
the Union, and to keep this most unfortunate 
subject still agitating the public attention? This 
is the real issue. It is not whether we approve 
of parts of the Constitution of Kansas; it’s not 
whether we think the qualification required by 
the Convention in framing the Constitution of 
Kansas, of twenty years’ citizenship of the 
United States in order to be Governor is right. 
That is a subject upon which the people of 
Kansas alone have the right to decide. 


178 Memoirs of a Senate Page 


XXL 

FAMOUS “MUD-SILL” SPEECH. 

Strong sectional feeling grew apace, and 
northern and southern Senators were hostile to 
each other. 

We pass to the events of the year 1858. 

The haughty Mr. Hammond, of South Caro¬ 
lina, who represented the very pith of slave¬ 
holding aristocracy in the Southern States, deliv¬ 
ered a remarkable speech on March 9, defining 
the position of the slaveholder, and his ideas 
concerning the relationship between people of 
high and low degree in the social scale. All those 
who labor for a living, he designated by the term 
“mud-sills,” and this became the title of his 
speech, which was in part as follows: 

Mr. Hammond. In all social systems there 
must be a class to do the mean duties, to perform 
the drudgery of life. That is a class requiring 
but a low order of intellect and but little skill. 
Its requisites are vigor, docility, fidelity. Such a 
class you must have, or you would not have that 
other class which leads progress, refinement, and 
civilization. It constitutes the very mud-sills of 
society and of political government; and you 
might as well attempt to build a house in the 
air, as to build either one or the other, except 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 179 

on the mud-sills. Fortunately for the South, she 
found a race adapted to that purpose to her hand. 
A race inferior to herself, but eminently qualified, 
in temper, in vigor, in docility, in capacity to 
stand the climate, to answer all her purposes. 
We use them, for the purpose, and call them 
slaves. We are old-fashioned at the South yet; 
it is a word discarded now by ears polite; but I 
will not characterize that class at the North with 
that term; but you have it; it is there; it is 
everywhere; it is eternal. The Senator from 
New York said yesterday that the whole world 
had abolished slavery. Ay, the name, but not 
the thing; and all the powers of the earth cannot 
abolish it. God only can do it when he repeals 
the fiat, “the poor ye always have with you,” 
for the man who lives by daily labor, and 
scarcely lives at that, and who has to put out his 
labor in the market and take the best he can get 
for it; in short your whole class of manual la¬ 
borers, and operatives, as you call them, are 
slaves. The difference between us is that our 
slaves are hired for life and well compensated; 
tnere is no starvation, no begging, no want of 
employment among our people, and not too 
much employment either. Yours are hired by 
the day, not cared for, and scantily compensated, 
which may be proved in the most deplorable 
manner, at any hour, in any street in any of your 
larsre towns. 

Why, sir, you meet more beggars in one day, 
in any single street of the city of New York, 
than you would meet in a life time in the whole 
South. Our slaves are black, of another inferior 


180 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

race. The status in which we have placed them 
is an elevation. They are elevated from the con¬ 
dition in which God first created them, by being 
made our slaves. None of that race on the 
whole face of the globe can be compared with 
the slaves of the South, and they know it. They 
are happy, content, unaspiring, and utterly in¬ 
capable, from intellectual degradation, ever to 
Five us any trouble by their aspirations. 

Your slaves are white, of your own race; you 
are brothers of one blood. They are your equals 
in intellect, and they feel galled by their degrada¬ 
tion. Our slaves do not vote. We give them no 
political power. Yours do vote, and being the 
majority, they are the depositaries of all your 
political power. If they knew the tremendous 
secret, that the ballot box is stronger than an 
army with bayonets, and could combine, where 
would you be? Your society would be recon¬ 
structed, your government reconstructed, your 
property divided, not as they have mistakenly 
attempted to initiate such proceedings by meet¬ 
ing in parks, with arms in their hands, but by the 
quiet process of the ballot box. You have been 
making upon us to our very hearthstones. How 
would you like for us to send lecturers or agita¬ 
tors North, to teach these people this, to aid and 
assist in combining, and to lead them? 

Mr. Wilson and others. Send them along. 

Mr. Hammond. You say, send them North? 
There is no need of that. They are coming here. 
They are thundering at our doors for home¬ 
steads of one hundred and sixty acres of land 
for nothing, and Southern Senators are support- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 181 

ing it. Nay they are assembling, as I have said, 
with arms in their hands, and demanding work 
at $1,000 a year and six hours a day. Have you 
heard that the ghost of Mendosa is in the streets 
of your big cities; that the inquisition is at hand? 
There is afloat a fearful rumor that there have 
been consultations for vigilance committees. 
You know what that means already. Transient 
and temporary causes have thus far been your 
preservation. The great West has been open to 
your surplus population and your hordes of 
semi-barbarian emigrants who are crowding in 
year by year. They make a great movement and 
you call it progress. Whither? It is progress; 
but it is progress towards vigilance committees. 
The South have sustained you in a great meas¬ 
ure. You are our factors. You bring and carry 
for us. One hundred and fifty million dollars of 
our money passes annually through your hands. 
Much of it sticks; all of it assists to keep your 
machinery together and in motion. Suppose we 
were to discharge; suppose we were to take our 
business out of your hands; we should consign 
you to anarchy and poverty. You complain of 
the rule of the South; that has been another 
cause that has preserved you. We have kept the 
Government conservative to the great purposes 
of the Government. We have placed her, and 
kept her, upon the Constitution; and that has 
been the cause of your peace and prosperity. 
The Senator from New York said that that, is 
about at an end; that you intend to take Govern¬ 
ment from us; that it will pass from our hands. 
Perhaps what he says is true; it may be; but do 


182 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

not forget—it can never be forgotten; it is writ¬ 
ten on the brightest pages of human history— 
that we, the slaveholders of the South, took our 
country in her infancy; and, after ruling her 
sixty out of the seventy years of her existence, 
we shall surrender her to you without a stain 
upon her honor, boundless in prosperity, incal¬ 
culable in her strength, the wonder and admir¬ 
ation of the world. 

Time will show what you make of her; but no 
time can ever diminish our glory or your respon¬ 
sibility. 


A few days later Mr. Hammond desired to be 
heard again to correct an oversight: 

I beg leave to interpolate a word at this 
point. This speech was corrected very hastily, 
and on looking over it I have made some other 
corrections. I wish to insert the word “hire¬ 
ling,” in the clause which has just been read, so 
that it shall read: Your whole class of hireling 
manual laborers, and “operatives” as you call 
them are essentially slaves. 

Mr. Hamlin, of Maine, then said: I accept the 
modification which the Senator from South Car¬ 
olina proposes to make. It is but just; it is but 
fair to allow it. I know very well that, in a 
discussion here, we may use a term which does 
not express precisely the meaning we intend. It 
is just and fair that every Senator should have 
the opportunity of stating precisely, and in the 
most accurate language, what he does mean. I 
do not see however, that the modification which 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 183 

the Senator has seen fit to make substantially 
changes the position which he assumed in his 
speech. 

In my judgment the Senator from South 
Carolina—I assure him I say it in kindness— 
has mistaken the characters of our laborers and 
their position. I do not think he would de¬ 
signedly assign to them a position to which they 
do not belong; and I have said that, in my opin¬ 
ion, he has come to the conclusion that our 
laborers occupy precisely the same position as 
those whom he sees in his own vicinity. I do not 
say that even that is so, but I say such is my 
conclusion. I am frank to admit that I know 
very little of the character of the laborers who 
toil beside the slave, but I have seen something 
of it. I have seen what has satisfied me that 
they have little intelligence; that they were poor¬ 
ly clothed; and that, while they felt themselves 
above them, they were actually in the social 
scale below the slave. 

I remember, sir, that upon the banks of the 
Potomac I once heard a Negro taunt a white 
man that he was so poor that he had not a 
master; and when I looked at the poor white 
man I confess that I thought there was some 
truth in the taunt of the Negro. 


184 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


XXII. 

THE MEN OF MAINE. 

An agricultural expert from England was 
walking along the rock-ribbed coast of Maine in 
company with a friend, a citizen of the State, 
when he turned about and asked: “What can 
you grow here? Your soil seems so rocky and 
sterile that no crops will thrive in it. What do 
you raise?” “We raise men!” was the ready 
answer. 

The conversation is reported as having oc¬ 
curred long years ago, when Hamlin and Fessen¬ 
den were senators from Maine. And taking 
them as examples it must be agreed that the 
answer to the Englishman’s query, was good. 


Hannibal Hamlin was a man that any State 
might easily have been proud to send to the 
Senate as a type of her citizenship, and one in 
whose trust her public affairs were well guarded. 
He was born in that State, in 1809, of Puritan 
stock. His grandfather was in command of 
minute men in the Revolution, a matter though 
quite in conformity with such sturdy folk 
as have adorned history and genealogy in New 
England. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 185 

In his youth, Hannibal worked on the home 
farm, and at the age of eighteen, his father pro¬ 
posed to him the study of law, which he began 
but discontinued before the lapse of a year, ow¬ 
ing to his father’s death. He then returned to 
the employment of tilling the soil, which he did 
for the next two years. During that time he 
became joint editor and proprietor with Horatio 
King, of a Democratic newspaper. He wrote 
both prose and poetry, but so much preferred the 
law, that he eventually sold out his interests in 
the paper, and entered the law offices in which 
Mr. Fessenden was a partner. In 1836, he be¬ 
gan a public career, by going to the Legislature; 
and in 1840, was speaker of the House of Dele¬ 
gates. In 1843, making rapid strides toward a 
high goal, he was sent to Congress as a repre¬ 
sentative. Five years later he was elected to the 
United States Senate to fill a vacant seat, and 
in 1851 was re-elected for the full term. At the 
outset he ranked among the leaders, and very 
ardently opposed slavery. He was an effective 
speaker, and in manly tones directed stern re¬ 
bukes to the slaveholders. 

Although a Democrat, and acting with that 
party in all its policies, he would not countenance 
any plan for the extension of slavery in the 
Union. He became Governor of Maine in 1857, 
but resigned in a very short time to again take 
his old seat in the Senate, but now defending 
Republican principles. He was elected Vice- 
President, with Lincoln, his nomination on the 
ticket being a complete surprise to him. During 
the crisis of that administration, he was the 


186 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

President’s right hand. However that may be, 
we are now concerned with Hamlin as Senator, 
who with great pungency made reply to Mr. 
Hamlin’s “mud-sill” speech, the text of which is 
here given: 

Mr. President, it is my purpose upon the 
present occasion to confine myself principally to 
a reply to the suggestions which have been made 
by the honorable Senator from South Carolina. 
(Mr. Hammond.) I may, after reviewing some 
of the remarkable doctrines which have been 
presented, say something on the question which 
is directly before us; but it is now my object to 
review some of the positions which he has as¬ 
sumed, for the purpose of testing their accuracy 
or inaccuracy, and to answer some of the 
assaults which he has made on the people I 
represent. The doctrines enunciated by that 
Senator are remarkable. The frankness with 
which they were expressed is commendable. It 
is my purpose to speak particularly to three dis¬ 
tinct points; first the faith of the South, and the 
manner in which she has kept it; second, the 
capacity of the South as a distinct and separate 
Government, as presented by the Senator from 
South Carolina; and third the character of the 
people whom I represent—the laboring masses 
of the North. I may say incidentally something 
in relation to some other points which he sug¬ 
gested, but to these three points I propose mainly 
to confine myself. These points I propose to dis¬ 
cuss, though I may not do so in the order in 
which I have named them. 

First as to the faith of the South, I will not 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 187 

stop to quote the Senator’s language; but he 
asserts broadly that the North have informally 
violated their faith, but that we may rely with 
unlimited confidence upon the unbroken faith ol 
the South. I have no answer to his allegations 
as to the faith of the North. When he shall 
make his specifications I will give the answer 
that justice shall demand. On what point have 
we at the North been faithless to our Constitu¬ 
tional obligations? Upon what point have we at 
the North been faithless to the South? Sir, 
when I speak of the South, I am only using the 
term the Senator from South Carolina has 
placed in my mouth. In my heart, I know no 
North, no South, no East, no West. We are the 
people of one common country. Whatever relates 
to the prosperity and the welfare, whatever per¬ 
tains to the rights of the South, as an American 
citizen, as an American Senator, I stand here to 
vindicate and maintain. What are their rights 
are my rights. What belongs to them belongs to 
me, as a citizen of a common country. But the 
Senator from South Carolina has seen fit in the 
course of the argument which he has pursued to 
arraign the North for the want of fidelity, and 
has vaunted here the unbroken plighted faith of 
the South. I ask again, in what have we violated 
our constitutional obligations? I tell you, sir, you 
mistake us. We regard our country as a whole. 
We are willirg to stand by it as a whole; nay, in 
the Union, we mean to stand by it as a whole. 

You can neither drive us out of it, nor shall 
you go! 

But sir, to proceed to the consideration of the 


188 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


points which I make. The facts of history show 
to my mind conclusively, that while we have been 
a Union, the faith of the South, of which 
the Senator from South Carolina so vauntedly 
boasted, has hardly been kept. I would not pur¬ 
sue this line of argument but for the manner in 
which the allegation was made. 

No single instance in which we of the North 
have violated our constitutional obligation has 
been cited. I think, in the absence of any speci¬ 
fications, I may clearly come to the conclusion 
that none can be successfully made. I hardly 
know what the Senator means by Southern faith. 
I am therefore left to grope my way, and draw 
my own conclusions. 

• •••••# 

I pass, now, to the discussion of another posi¬ 
tion which he has assumed. He told us, “the 
poor ye always have with you.” That is true; 
there is no denial of the fact. There is, however, 
another maxim of the same good book, which 
he might have quoted with just as much pro¬ 
priety, and just as great truth: “Do ye unto 
others as ye would that others should do unto 
you, for this is the law and the prophets.” Does 
poverty imply crime? Does poverty imply 
servitude? Does poverty imply slavery? I join 
issue with the Senator there. In all climes, in 
all countries, and in all ages there are poor. 
Because men are poor, does that imply that 
they are to be placed on the same basis with per¬ 
sons who are subjugated, and who toil in the 
chains of slavery. I deny it. There is a prompt¬ 
ing of the heart, there is a principle of Christian 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 189 

nevolence, that tells you, and tells me, and tells 
us all, that if there are poor, it is our duty to 
alleviate their poverty and to remove their dis¬ 
tress—not, because they are poor, to class them 
in the same condition with negro slaves! I grant 
that poverty necessarily produces a great degree 
of dependence of the poor upon other classes, 
than would exist in another state of circum¬ 
stances; but because a man is poor, does that 
discharge you from the obligations which you 
owe to him as a fellow citizen? Because he is 
poor does that relieve you from the obligation 
which you owe to him as a citizen of the com¬ 
munity and as a Christian ? Surely not; and that 
dependence does not create slavery. Look over 
the world and you find that poverty, is produced 
from a variety of circumstances. It may be mis¬ 
fortune; generally, I think by improvidence. It 
may be by devasting elements. It may be by 
causes over which the individual has no control. 
No matter what are the causes, if they operate 
on the individual he is entitled to your sympa¬ 
thies and to your Christian benevolence; and 
God forbid that you should class him with the 
slave that toils only to live, and lives only to 
toil. It may be sir, that the influence of slavery 
is calculated, if not designed to produce that 
state of things; but if its tendencies are to pro¬ 
duce that state of things, still to place the poor 
on the same basis with the negro slave, who does 
not own himself, is unjust and illogical. 

But sir while the Senator charges us with 
having in all our large cities, a very considerable 
number of persons who obtain alms from beg- 


190 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

gary, while he asserts there are more paupers in 
the streets of New York than are to be found 
in the whole South; still, is it not true in all 
large places, you witness always the trappings 
of wealth and the misery which is incident to 
poverty? Is it not as true of the South as the 
North? While we have large hordes of that 
class of men in the great cities of the North, is 
it not true that vast portions of them come 
even from the South, and congregate there and 
ask alms at our hands? 

Now my word for it, the Senator from South 
Carolina has mistaken the character of our popu¬ 
lation and our laborers. I stand here the rep¬ 
resentative of northern laborers. In my own 
person I present a laboring man—educated at 
the printing case, toiling in my field and earning 
with my own hands, and by the sweat of my own 
brow, the food on which I subsist; and I am glad 
to say that here sits besides me a worthy com¬ 
peer (Mr. Wilson). It may be regarded as 
egotistical, and if so, I ask you to pardon me; 
but I think I feel something for the man that 
labors. 

I think I have something in my heart that 
leads me to sympathize with him. I know that 
my friend from Massachusetts has. From our 
boyhood to our manhood we have toiled in the 
sunshine and in the rain, and we are, though 
poor ones, the representatives of the men who 
labor at the North. I wish they had better and 
abler representatives here; but such as we are, 
they have sent us here; such as we are, we will 
vindicate their rights.” 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 191 

Some days later Mr. Hamlin was drawn into 
the debate again. 

'‘Who are our ‘hireling manual laborers,’ of 
the North? Sir, I can tell that Senator that they 
are not the mud-sills of our community. They 
are the men who clear away our forests. They 
are the men who make the green hill side blos¬ 
som. They are the men who build our ships and 
who navigate them. They are the men who 
build our towns, and who inhabit them. They 
are the men who constitute the great mass of our 
community. Sir they are not only the pillars 
that support the Government, but they are the 
capitals that adorn the very pillars. They are 
not to be classed with the slave. Our laboring 
men have homes; they have wives; they have 
little ones, dependent on them for support and 
maintenance; and they are just so many incen¬ 
tives and so much stimulus to action. The labor¬ 
ing man with us knows for whom he toils; and 
when he toils he knows he is to return to that 
home where comfort and pleasure and all the 
domestic associates cluster around the social 
hearthstone. Northern laborers are “hirelings,” 
and are to be classed with the negro slave! 

Besides that, the men who labor in our com¬ 
munity are the men whom we clothe with power. 
They are the men who exercise the prerogatives 
of the State. They are the men who, after hav¬ 
ing been clothed with power there, are sent 
abroad to represent us elsewhere. They do our 
legislation at home. They support the State. 
They are the State. They are men, high minded 
men. They read; they watch you in these Halls 


192 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

every day; and through all our community the 
doings of this branch, and of the other, are as 
well understood, and perhaps even better, than 
we understand them ourselves. I affirm that, 
throughout our community, the proceedings of 
Congress are more extensively and accurately 
read than even by ourselves. These are the men 
who are to be classed by the side of the slave? 
I think it is true that, in about every three gen¬ 
erations at most, the wheel entirely performs its 
revolution. The wealthy man of the North, the 
wealthy man of any community, finds wealth at 
the end of two or three generations departing 
from the hands that accumulated it; and those 
who commenced life without means, and were 
“hireling manual laborers,” in their turn, by their 
industry, accumulate that wealth. That is the 
operation of things around us. You rarely find 
a fortune continuing beyond three generations in 
this country in the same family. 

That class of our community, containing a 
very large majority have been designated here 
as hireling laborers, white slaves! Why, sir, 
does labor imply slavery? Because they toil, be¬ 
cause they pursue a course which enables them 
to support their wives and their families, even 
if it be by daily manual labor, does that neces¬ 
sarily imply servitude? Far from it! I affirm 
that the great portion of our laborers at the 
North own their homes, and labor to adorn them. 
They own their own homes, and if you will visit 
them you will find there evidences to satisfy you 
beyond all doubt that they are intelligent, and that 
they are in truth and in fact precisely what I 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 193 

have described them to be—the pillars of the 
State, the State itself, and the very ornaments 
and capitals that adorn the columns. With them 
the acquisition of knowledge is not a crime. 

I have quoted all that the Senator from South 
Carolina has said on this point for the purpose of 
giving the widest circulation I can to the declar¬ 
ations he has made. 

He has mistaken, I doubt not, the character of 
our laborers by judging them from what he has 
seen in his own vicinity and what in my judg¬ 
ment, is produced by that very state of servitude 
which is there existing. It is my duty to vindi¬ 
cate our laborers. My own regret is that I can 
do it no more efficiently. 


194 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


XXIII. 

"hireling manual laborers.” 

St. Peter was called by his Lord, "a rock/’ and 
a fit foundation for the building of a Church. 
We know that the great Apostle was not de¬ 
graded by reason of his new name, but very 
highly exalted. It was a figure of speech. 

Senator Hammond’s figure of speech was not 
susceptible of being so turned as to reflect 
creditably upon the toiler. He implied that the 
"hireling manual laborer” being a "mud-sill,” 
which is the lowest sill in the house—the sill 
upon which the superstructure rests—was by its 
very nature a thing half imbedded in dirt, and 
only fitted for the meanest uses. 

There were some members of the Senate who 
listened to Mr. Hammond, who were themselves 
of humble beginnings; men who had had to do 
hard labor for their living; and they were not 
slow to offer objection to this affront pronounced 
upon the "hireling.” The masterly answers to 
that speech were sufficient to gladden the heart 
of any one who had ever worked with his hands. 
Such men as Wilson, Broderick, and Wade, took 
up the defense so ably begun by Hamlin. "The 
Natick Shoemaker” was well equipped for an 
attack upon this doctrine propounded by the 
Southern senator. 



HENRY WILSON. 

A. N DREW JOHNSON. 


HANNIBAL HAMLIN, 
DAVID C. BROOEFNCK. 


.&&M 







Memoirs of a Senate Page 195 

Mr. Wilson said: 

Sir,—I have toiled as a “hireling manual 
laborer” in the field and in the work shop; and 
I tell the Senator from South Carolina that I 
never “felt galled by my degradation.” No, sir 
—never! Perhaps the Senator who represents 
that “other class which leads progress, civiliza¬ 
tion, and refinement,” will ascribe this to obtuse¬ 
ness of intellect and blunted sensibilities of the 
heart. Sir, I was conscious of my manhood; I 
was the peer of my employer; I knew that the 
laws and institutions of my native and adopted 
State threw over him and over me alike the 
panoply of equality; I knew, too, that the world 
was before me, that its wealth, its garnered 
treasures of knowledge, its honors, the coveted 
prizes of life, were within the grasp of a brave 
heart and a tireless hand, and I accepted the re¬ 
sponsibilities of my position all unconscious that 
1 was a “slave.” I have employed others, hun¬ 
dreds “of hireling manual laborers.” Some of 
them then possessed, and now possess more 
property than I ever owned; some of them were 
better educated than myself—yes, sir, better edu¬ 
cated, and better read, too, than some Senators 
on this floor; and many of them, in moral excel¬ 
lence and purity of character, I could not but 
feel, were my superiors. I have occupied, Mr. 
President, for more than thirty years, the relation 
of employer and employed; and while I never 
felt “galled by my degradation” in the one case, 
in the other I was never conscious that my “hire¬ 
ling laborers were my inferiors. That man is 
a snob who boasts of being a “hireling laborer” 


ig 6 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

or who is ashamed of being a “hireling laborer 
that man is a snob who feels any inferiority to 
any man because he is a “hireling laborer,” or who 
assumes any superiority over others because he 
is an employer. Honest labor is honorable; and 
the man who is ashamed he is or was a “hireling 
laborer” has not manhood enough to “feel galled 
by his degradation.” 

Having occupied Mr. President, the relation 
of either employed or employer for the third of 
a century; having lived in a Commonwealth 
where the “hireling class of manual laborers” 
are “the depositaries of political power,” having 
associated with this class in all the relations of 
life; I tell the Senator from South Carolina, and 
the class he represents, that he libels, grossly 
libels them, when he declares that they are 
“essentially slaves!” There can be found no¬ 
where in America a class of men more proudly 
conscious or tenacious of their rights. Friends 
and foes have ever found them 


“A stubborn race, fearing and flattering none." 


Another, and one who had been a stone-cutter 
by trade, a man fond of books, and a most 
soulful and interesting character—David C. 
Broderick, by name, senator from California, 
and one of the youngest members in the cham¬ 
ber, uttered some memorable words which were 
evoked by the speech branding the men of his 
former station in life, as slaves. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 197 

Mr. Broderick said: 

I, sir, am glad that the Senator has spoken 
thus. It may have the effect of arousing in the 
workingmen that spirit that has been lying dor¬ 
mant for centuries. It may also have the effect 
of arousing the two hundred thousand men with 
pure skins in South Carolina, who are now de¬ 
graded and despised by thirty thousand aristo¬ 
cratic slave solders. It may teach them to de¬ 
mand what is the power— 

Linked with success, assumed and kept with 
skill, 

That moulds another’s weakness to its will; 

Weilds with their hands, but still to them 
unknown, 

Makes even their mightiest deeds appear his 
own!” 

I suppose, sir, the Senator from South Caro¬ 
lina did not intend to be personal in his remarks 
to any of his peers upon this floor. If I had 
thought so I would have noticed them at the 
time. I am, sir, with one exception, the youngest 
in years of the Senators upon this floor. It’s not 
long since I served an apprenticeship of five 
years at one of the most laborious mechanical 
trades pursued by man—a trade that from its 
nature devotes its followers to thought, but de¬ 
bars him from conversation. I would not have 
alluded to this if it were not for the remarks of 
the Senator from South Carolina; and the thou¬ 
sands who know that I am the son of an Artisan 
and have been a mechanic, would feel disap- 


198 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

pointed in me if I did not reply to him. I am 
not proud of this. I am sorry it is true. I would 
that I could have enjoyed the pleasures of life in 
my boyhood days; but they were denied to me. 
I say this with pain. I have not the admiration 
for the men of the class from which I sprang 
that might be expected; they submit too tamely 
to oppression, and are prone to neglect their 
rights and duties as citizens. But sir the class 
of society to whose toil I was born, under our 
form of government will control the destinies of 
this nation. If I were inclined to forget my 
connection with them, or to deny that I sprang 
from them, this chamber would not be the place 
in which I could do either. While I hold a seat 
I have but to look at the beautiful capitals adorn¬ 
ing the pilasters that support this roof, to be re¬ 
minded of my father’s talent and to see his 
handiwork. I left the scenes of my youth and 
manhood for the 'Far West’ because I was tired 
of the struggle and jealousies of men of my 
class, who could not understand why one of their 
fellows should seek to elevate his condition upon 
the common level. I made my new abode among 
strangers where labor is honored. I had left, 
without regret; there remained no tie of blood 
to bind me to any being in existence. If I fell in 
the struggle for reputation and fortune, there 
was no relative on earth to mourn my fall. The 
people of California elevated me to the highest 
honor within their gift. My election was not the 
result of an accident. For years I had to strug¬ 
gle, often seeing the goal of my ambition within 
my reach; it was again and again taken from me 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 199 

by the aid of men from my own class. I had not 
only them to contend with, but almost the entire 
partisan press of my State was subsidized by 
Government money and patronage to oppose my 
election. I sincerely hope, sir, the time will come 
when such speeches as that from the Senator 
from South Carolina will be considered a lesson 
to the laborers of the nation. 


The New York Tribune commenting on Mr. 
Wade’s reply, made these statements: 

There are many fine orations and good argu¬ 
ments delivered in the United States Senate, 
from time to time; but not often a really good 
speech. ... In the powerful effort of 
Judge Wade, the speech is but the just measure 
of the man. 


Mr. Wade’s speech in part: 

Of what use is your idle aristocracy? 

In God’s name, have they not been the curse, 
the blight of every nation of the earth? You 
cannot have this refined aristocracy, says the 
gentleman, unless you have a class to do your 
drudgery; and that is the sentiment of the whole 
South. How diametrically opposed to it is the 
whole practical system of the North? Is it rea¬ 
sonable, is it right, that “a class” shall do your 
drudgery—“a class” that shall obey? Sir, labor 
should never be done by a class. If you obeyed 
the mandate of the Almighty, and labor were 


200 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


distributed among all the able bodied men, it 
would cease to be a task; it would be a mere 
amusement, and it would tax no man’s physical 
powers above what would consist with his health 
and his welfare. It was designed—for God is 
just—that this drudgery of which the Senator 
speaks should be distributed among all the able- 
bodied men so as to make it light, and then it 
would not be inconsistent with the highest perfec¬ 
tion of civilization and refinement; but on the 
other hand, would lead directly to it. 

Labor done by a class! That, sir, was the 
curse of the Old World. A class has been 
assigned to do the drudgery, to do all that is 
valuable, to produce everything that is beneficial; 
and the system leaves aristocratical drones, use¬ 
less, vicious idlers whom any community can 
well dispense with. I say this class you can 
dispense with to the advantage of any com¬ 
munity that I know of; but the class who do 
your labor cannot be dispensed with. The Sen¬ 
ator says you must have class to do your 
degraded labor. I deny that labor is degraded; 
and here is the point of difference between us, 
which I fear can never be overcome. That is one 
grand reason why we resist your system coming 
into our Territories; it is all because you are 
determined to contaminate all labor by this de¬ 
graded class. Will the free, intelligent laborer 
place himself upon a level with your mere abject 
chattel, and toil there? Sir, he cannot do it, and 
ought not to do it, and will not do it. What an 
idea of labor! The Senator supposes that the 
laboring class want but very little mind and verj^ 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 201 

little skill. Sir, there is nothing on earth that 
puts the human intellect to all that it can attain 
like the varied labor of man; what does your 
drone, your refined aristocrat, do in his mind? 
What problems does he work out? He consumes 
the products of labor; he is idle, and ten to one 
is also vicious. He never invents. Go to your 
Patent Office, and see what are the products of 
your degraded labor and your refined aristocrat. 

The latter never invents anything, unless its 
a new way of stuffing a chicken or mixing liquor. 
(Laughter.) He invents nothing beneficial to 
man. Degraded labor, with a low intellect is all 
you want! Sir, the machinery brought into 
operation by intelligent labor is doing now more 
drudgery than all the slaves upon the face of 
the earth. The elements are yoked to the ma¬ 
chines of usefulness, and there they are doing 
the work of bone and muscle and your system 
cannot abide with it. The doom of slavery 
would be fixed, if it was by nothing else than the 
products of intelligent labor. You drudge along 
in the old way; you invent no steam engine, be¬ 
cause your labor is degraded. You do not want 
skill; you want but very little mind; and the 
Senator thinks the more ignorant the laborers 
are the better, for he says they are so degraded 
that they have no ambition, and they never will 
endanger this refined class that eats up the pro¬ 
ceeds of their labor! 

That is the idea of government that prevails 
all through the slave-holding regions of the 
South. Again the Senator says of the degraded 
class that do the drudgery, “It constitutes the 


202 


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very mul-sills of society and of political govern¬ 
ment; and you might as well attempt to build a 
house in the air; as to build either one or the 
other, except on this mud-sill.” 

And then he goes on to say that we of the 
North have white slaves; that we perform our 
labor by the white slaves. This class must exist 
everywhere, and they must be a mud-sill upon 
which you must erect civil societies and political 
organizations. 

How little that gentleman understood of the 
spirit of our northern laborers! I would like to 
see him endeavoring to erect his political institu¬ 
tions upon their prostrate necks as mud-sills. I 
think it would be a little troublesome. He might 
as well make his bed in hell, or erect his building 
over a volcano, as to undertake to build on his 
northern “mud-sills.” Then with a simplicity that 
shows he knows nothing of northern society, he 
says we have sent our missionaries down to their 
very hearthstones to endanger their system. I 
do not know how that is; but he turns round and 
asks how we would like them to send their mis¬ 
sionaries up to teach our laborers their power. 
I was astonished as such an idea as that being 
presented to political men of the North, who 
know and feel the power of the laboring class of 
men. We are all laboring men, and the politician 
cannot live unless they breath upon him; he can¬ 
not move unless he moves with their approbation. 
They are the soul, the strength, the body, the 
virtue, the main stay of all our society. Deprive 
our State of its laborers and what would it be? 
We have nothing else, and we have none of your 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 203 

refined society that is spoken of. We all labor, 
and are all disgraced as the gentleman would call 
it, in our community. Labor with us is honor¬ 
able; idleness is disreputable. That is the state 
of things with us, and the laboring man knows 
full well, and needs no missionary to tell him the 
potency of his vote. We should like to have your 
missionaries come up and endeavor to endanger 
our society! Good heavens! One man has the 
same interest in upholding it as another. Sup¬ 
pose one man is richer than another in Ohio. 
There is no great diversity, as a general thing; 
but suppose he is; take the child of the poorest 
man in our State; and has he any temptation to 
overthrow our government? No, sir; full of 
life, full of hope, full of ambition to go beyond 
him who has gone furthest, he wishes to avail 
himself of the same securities which have mis- 
istered to the upbuilding of others. He is a 
citizen, who holds all the rights of citizenship as 
dear as the most wealthy. His stake in society is 
the same; his hope is the same; his interest in 
good government is the same. He is none of 
your prostrate mud-sills deprived of those rights 
which God Almighty has given him, trampled 
under foot, and made to minister to the interest 
of another man. There is no such system as that 
with us. 

But the Senator spoke about a degraded class 
in our great commercial cities. I have to confess 
that there is some truth in that. We have a de¬ 
graded class in the cities. They are the off- 
scouring generally of this Old World—men who 
come here reduced to beggary by their ignor- 


204 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

ance; reduced to beggary by their vice; ignorant, 
vicious, dangerous. I do not deny it. They are 
incident to all large cities; but the Senator should 
not complain of them. They are the chief 
corner stone of your political strength in the 
North. Fnd me the vicious ward of any city that 
does not uphold your system of slavery, vote for 
its candidates, support its measures and labor for 
its men. No, sir, you should not complain of this 
vicious population. In truth and in fact, they are 
about the only stay and support you have there 
now and you ought not to traduce them. From 
their very natures, they attach themselves to you, 
and I do not think by any treatment you will be 
able to drive them off. 

They are naturally with you; they were slaves 
in their own countries; they do not know any¬ 
thing else than to be the understrappers of some¬ 
body; and when they hear that here are slave¬ 
holders contending with freemen, you will find 
them with the former all the time. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


205 


* 


XXIV. 

ANDREW JOHNSON: TAILOR-STATESMAN. 

The Senate seemed to hold as many men who 
climbed to success through adversity and, 
of times, antagonism, as it did men who were 
lifted up amid showers of praise. Perhaps, some 
of the most useful public men of those times 
came from the masses, among whose serried 
ranks the whole being must ever bend in the 
struggle for mere bread, to say nothing of 
advancement in the world’s affairs. 

Born of the people, brought up amongst the 
people, and a representative of the people, An¬ 
drew Johnson, tailor and statesman, stood in the 
halls of Congress, the peer of any member of 
either house. The place of his birth was 
Raleigh, North Carolina. At the age of four 
years he was left fatherless and penniless. Pov¬ 
erty being his early teacher, he learned lessons 
at her school that eminently fitted him for his 
distinguished career. It made him also the 
champion of the poor and weak. 

His marriage at the age of 19, brought to 
him in wedlock a companion of youth, beauty, 
and culture, and one whose love never waned. 
Though poor in worldly goods, he possessed a 
character untarnished and an ambition unflag¬ 
ging. Never having spent a day in school, he, 


2o6 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

in the encounters of debate, was armed cap-a-pie 
for combat with graduates of the best colleges. 
How can it be explained? At night, while ply¬ 
ing his needle, the talented and accomplished 
Eliza McArdle Johnson, his wife, instructed him 
in all branches of education. His career was a 
slow and steady climb. In the little town in 
East Tennessee, where he lived, he entered pol¬ 
itics, and became first an alderman. From this 
he was elected Mayor. One night, speaking to 
a group of politicians about whom they were to 
send to the legislature, he said: “I, too, am in 
the fight.” And he was elected. 

Andrew Johnson went to the Senate of the 
United States in 1857. He had a cordial dislike 
for an aristocrat, and Jefferson Davis, the most 
perfect example of such an estate, aroused him 
to very caustic utterance. One day Mr. Davis 
critically asked him: “What do you mean by 
the laboring classes?” “Those who earn their 
bread by the sweat of their face, and not by 
fatiguing their ingenuity.” 

When the hailstorm of disapproval was falling 
upon Senator Hammond for his “mud-sill” 
speech, Mr. Johnson said: 

In one sense of the term we are all slaves. A 
man is a slave to his ambition; he is a slave to 
his avarice: he is a slave to his necessities; and, 
in enumerations of this kind, you can scarcely 
find any man, high or low in society, but who, 
in some sense, is a slave, but they are not slaves 
in the sense we mean at the South and it will 
not do to assume that every man who toils for 
his living is a slave. If that be so, all are slaves; 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 207 

for all must toil more or less, mentally or physi¬ 
cally. But in the other sense of the term, we are 
not slaves. Will it do to assume that the 
man who labors with his hands, every man who 
is an operative in a manufacturing establishment, 
or a shop is a slave? No sir, that will not do. 
Will it do to assume that every man who does 
not own slaves, but has to live by his own labor, 
is a slave? That will not do. If it were true, 
it would be very unfortunate for a good many 
of us, and especially so for me. I am a laborer 
with my hands, and I never considered myself 
a slave in the acceptance of the term slave in 
the South. I do own some; I acquired them by 
my industry, by the labor of my hands. In that 
sense of the term I should have been a slave 
while I was earning them with the labors of my 
hands. 

Mr. Hammond: Will the Senator define a 
slave ? 

Mr. Johnon: What we understand to be a 
slave in the South, is a person who is held to 
service during his or her natural life, subject to, 
and under the control of, a master who has the 
right to appropriate the products of his or her 
labor to his own use. The necessities of life 
and the various positions in which a man may 
be placed, operated upon by avarice, gain, or 
ambition, may cause him to labor; but that does 
not make a slave. How many men are there in 
society who go out and work with their own 
hands, who reap in the field, and mow in a 
meadow, who hoe corn, who work in the shops? 
Are they slaves? If we were to go back and 


208 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

follow the idea, that every operative, and laborer 
is a slave, we should find that we have had a 
great many distinguished slaves since the world 
commenced. Socrates, who first conceived the 
dea of the immortality of the soul, pagan as he 
> , labored with his own hands;—yes, wielded 

h chisel and the mallet, giving polish, and 
fi h to the stone; he afterwards turned to be a 
fashioner and constructor of the mind. Paul 
the great expounder, himself was a tent maker, 
and worked with his hands; was he a slave? 
Archimedes, who declared that, if he had a place 
on which to rest the fulcrum, with the power of 
his lever he could move the world; was he a 
slave? Adam, our great father and head, the 
lord of the world, was a tailor by trade; I won¬ 
der if he was a slave? 

When we talk about laborers and operatives, 
look at the columns that adorn this Chamber, 
and see their finish and style. We are lost in 
admiration at the architecture of your buildings, 
and their massive columns. We can speak with 
admiration. What would it have been but for 
hands to construct it? Was the artisan who 
worked upon it a slave? Let us go to the South 
and see how the matter stands there. Is every 
man that is not a slaveholder to be denominated 
a slave because he labors? Why indulge in such 
a notion?” 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


209 


XXV, 


JEFFERSON DAVIS AND ROBERT TOOMBS. 

When Jefferson Davis first became United 
States Senator from Mississippi in 1847, he was 
among the youngest members of that body. It 
was said that John Quincy Adams, used always 
to take a seat close to a speaker upon the occa¬ 
sion of his debut, and if the man pleased him he 
remained attentive, otherwise he quickly fled. 
Mr. Davis had the floor one day soon after 
taking his seat in the Chamber, and Mr. Adams 
moved up. As the speaker proceeded, the “Old 
Man Eloquent” sat there listening attentively, 
and at the conclusion of the speech, he remarked 
to some friends: “That man, gentleman, is no 
ordinary man. He will make his mark yet, 
mind me.” 

Mr. Davis’ second term in the Senate began in 
1857. Austere in manner, with the bearing of a 
soldier, and the tread of an Indian brave on the 
warpath, he was a figure commanding attention 
on the .Senate floor. He was of the blue blood 
of the South, and proud, select, polished. His 
frame was more delicate than strong; his coun¬ 
tenance, though not handsome, was good, and 
bore indications of the high spirit within the 
man. He seemed always to be absorbed in 


210 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

things above the common level, not much of a 
talker, nor easily drawn out. Approachable only 
by his associates in the Senate, I always consid¬ 
ered him a very cold man. I do not remember 
that he ever smiled. He had passed through so 
much, with Indian campaigning and the Mexican 
war, that his nature could not have been other¬ 
wise, probably, than it was. It appears to make 
a man’s disposition reserved and cold, when he 
returns to every day life, bearing wounds and 
the marks of hardship in field and camp. He 
must have had great depth of character,—depth 
of soul; aye, it is manifest by his record in the 
army, and in the Senate; and no one better 
could have been selected to bear the burden of 
awful responsibility in administering the affairs 
of the Confederacy. He was a military genius. 
His West Point training, and his Mexican War 
experience, gave him facility to grasp military 
situations and to issue commands to an army. 
He had surprised the commanders of the world 
by his tactics at Buena Vista, where he was 
vastly outnumbered, and by placing his forces 
in the form of an angle with the apex toward 
the enemy, instead of using the “hollow square,’’ 
he twice repulsed the advance and won a great 
victory. 

His political career was much to be ad¬ 
mired, for some one has said of him that he had 
the defiance of Chatham, was as scholarly as 
Brougham, elegant in diction as Canning, 
often as profound as Burke, with the fervor and 
zeal of Grattan, and the subtelty of Fox. His 
parliamentary art thus comparing with the best 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 21 i 

English models, his standing was amongst the 
foremost in the American Senate. 

How strange it seems now, to read a speech 
so loyal to the Union, spoken by one who be¬ 
came President of a Confederacy. His speech 
on the bill to increase the army, is in part, as 
follows: 

Is it to be inferred that a man who is a free¬ 
man at his birth, who has all the spirit of repub¬ 
licanism in his heart, is to lose it by entering the 
military profession? Is it true, as the Senator 
from Texas has told us, that the service in the 
army stultifies young men? it cannot be. He 
is a bright example of the reverse himself. It 
was his proud fortune to rise from the ranks by 
his own merit to a commissioned officer, to serve 
in the army, and there to acquire many of those 
qualities, endowments, and graces which have 
adorned this Chamber; he stands in himself a 
brilliant example of how little the army stultifies, 
and how much it may exalt the youth contained 
in its ranks. We have other and great exam¬ 
ples. Did Washington become the fit instrument 
of a despotism? was he stultified because he 
entered the service of the United States in his 
youth? That great mind which comprehended 
the whole condition of the Colonies; that heart 
that beat sympathetically for ever portion of 
his common country, feeling equally for Massa¬ 
chusetts, and South Carolina, for New York 
and Virginia, that great arm which smoothed 
the thorny path of revolution, and led the Col¬ 
onies from rational up to National independence, 
and laid the foundation of that prosperity and 


212 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

greatness which have made us a people not only 
as an example for the whole world, but a protec¬ 
tion to liberal principles wherever liberty asserts 
a right—was he stultified by service in the army ? 
Jackson too the indomitable Jackson, who when 
a boy and a captive, spurned the insult of a 
despot, and for asserting his personal dignity re¬ 
ceived a wound, a scar of which he carried to 
his grave—was he by service in the army, when 
yet a minor, by brilliant exploits in middle age, 
rendered the fit instrument of despotism? If it 
be said that these were men drawn from the 
pursuits of civil life and only ocassionally em¬ 
ployed in the military service what, then, shall 
be said of the great, the good, heroic Taylor? 
for a hero he was, not in the mere vulgar sense 
of animal courage, but in the higher and nobler 
attributes of generosity and clemency. His was 
an eye that looked unquailing when the mes¬ 
sengers of death were flying around him; but in 
the ward room, over his wounded comrades, was 
dimmed by the tear of a soldier’s love and com¬ 
passion. His was a self-reliant, resolute heart, 
which arose under accumulated difficulties, and 
hardened by contact with danger; but that heart 
melted to a woman’s softness at the wail of the 
helpless, or the appeal of the vanquished. He 
was a hero, a moral hero. His heart was his 
country’s, and his life had been his country’s 
own through all its stages. Was he the fit in¬ 
strument of a despot to be used for the over¬ 
throw of the liberties of the United States? 

Shall I prove my proposition by going on and 
multiplying examples; or is not apparent that 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


213 


whatever may be true of the history of Rome, 
whatever may be true of the condition of Eu¬ 
rope, that the United States stands out its own 
founder and its own example? No other people 
like our own ever founded a State. No other peo¬ 
ple like our own have ever thus elevated a State 
to such greatness in so small a space of time. If 
there be evidence of decay, that decay is not to 
be found in the spirit of your little army, but is 
to be hunted for in the impurities of your 
politicians. It therefore does not become the 
politician to point to our little and gallant and 
devoted army, as the incipient danger which is 
to overthrow the liberties of this country. 


As I revert to the days of the 35th Congress, 
with the knowledge of subsequent history in my 
mind, the name of Robert Toombs is indissolubly 
linked with that of Jefferson Davis; not because 
of any similiarity of the two men, but because 
upon them conjointly is laid most of the blame 
for precipitating the war of rebellion, and be¬ 
tween them rested the choice of a Chief Execu¬ 
tive for the Confederate States. 

Robert Toombs, Senator from Georgia, was 
one of the most forcible speakers on that his¬ 
toric floor. He was like a lion both in appear¬ 
ance and in actions; fearless, bold, powerfully 
built, and with a voice of thunder. He reminded 
me always of Edwin Forrest in the character of 
Jack Cade, the bondman of Kent. As with all 
good lawyers he was never without proper in- 


214 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

formation before him, and in debate he could 
throw down the gauntlet to anyone. Like Mira- 
beau, whom he also probably resembled, he 
chose rather than employ ornate language, to 
strike as with a sledge-hammer, blows with 
words of the utmost weight, meanwhile shaking 
his head and pounding with his clenched fists 
upon his desk. He could speak for several hours 
without the least sign of fatigue, and the Senate 
gave him undivided attention. He also had a 
habit of rising on his toes, and then striking his 
heels hard on the floor. 

Mr. Toombs was born in Georgia, in 1810. 
His education was acquired at the University of 
Georgia, Union College, New York, and the 
University of Virginia. At the time of his 
death he was one of the wealthiest men of the 
South, his fortune being estimated at half a 
million dollars. 

When Lnicoln was elected President of the 
United States, Mr. Toombs was so inflamed with 
passion that he very diligently urged secession, 
and to add greater emphasis to disorder, inform¬ 
ally left the Senate, for which act he was 
expelled. 

In the cabinet of the Confederacy, he quar¬ 
reled with Mr. Davis and resigned the portfolio 
to enter the army. He was commissioned a 
brigadier general. 

From a section of a speech, delivered in May, 
1858, inveighing against British aggressions in 
the Gulf of Mexico, one may receive a fair im¬ 
pression of the man’s style. 

Mr. Tombs: It is not my purpose to argue 




jeFF&«:60N DfW*S. BQBEaT too^gs. 

JAM^S H.HWHOMD. JOHM C.BREtK>NR>D&L. 
























* 






N 


























Memoirs of a Senate Page 215 

the right of any nation to visit or to search 
American ships in time of peace. I consider 
that argument to have been exhausted; that 
question to have been settled for the last forty 
years by the American people. It was one of 
the causes of the last war with England. It was 
not settled at the treaty of Ghent; but it was 
there given to be distinctly understood by the 
American negotiators, and it has been uniformly 
affirmed by this Government, that whenever 
exercised, we should consider it a belligerent act. 
Therefore, there is but one point in this case: 
if these belligerent acts of search have been done 
by the authority of the British Government, they 
are acts of war that ought to be resisted by 
force; and we want not measures of prevention 
in the future, but redress for the insult in the 
past. We want something more than the reso¬ 
lutions the committee offer to give us here. 
We want something more than pledges and 
securities that belligerent acts will not be com¬ 
mitted in the future. We want satisfaction for 
the committal of these acts, if they have been 
done by authority of the British Government, 
they are acts of war that we ought to resist by 
force and resist now. If they have been done 
without their authority, we ought to seize these 
vessels, to prevent the performance of those acts, 
not only against the laws of nations, but against 
our rights, and against the authority of their 
own Government. 

Therefore I shall vote for a resolution that 
will not only send our Navy there to prevent the 


216 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

continuance of this war upon our commerce, but 
will seize the vessels which have committed 
these hostilities, with or without the authority 
of the British Government. That Government 
is too far off. We cannot afford to have our 
houses searched while waiting to hear what they 
have to say. It is not allowable, I believe, for 
the humblest man in Great Britain or in this 
country, to have his house searched, even with 
a general warrant. The British resisted that a 
hundred years ago. Our Constitution protects 
us against it. We are free from it by our own 
Constitution except under the most stringent 
circumstances; but Great Britain, a foreign 
Government, without any pretense, without any 
form of law, claims the right of disgracing our 
flag, and searching our vessels in the Gulf of 
Mexico at our doors. Will you send across the 
water, and have negotiation while these things 
are going on? Every gale that wafts a sail from 
the Gulf of Mexico brings here accounts of new 
wrongs and new outrages; and I suppose we 
must send to England to know if she warrants 
the acts of this fleet who are roving over seas, 
free rovers, violating our declared rights that 
we have stood by for forty years, to Imow if it 
is by the authority of their masters? The mili¬ 
tary force of the country should be sent to the 
Gulf, and it should seize or sink the aggressors, 
and get explanation afterwards. If it is against 
their orders, we have treated them right; if it 
is not against their orders, we have treated 
England right; so that in any event, I shall vote 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 217 

for that measure which will seize the British 
aggressors on our rights and bring them to our 
ports for condign punishment, and I shall be 
satisfied with nothing short of it.” 


2l8 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


XXVI. 

PASSING FROM THE OLD CHAMBER. 

In all the four years of my experience in the 
Senate, I was never more deeply impressed than 
on this occasion, when the whole body of Sen¬ 
ators took leave of the old chamber. (January 
4 , 1859-) 

Vive-President Breckinridge delivered the 
principal oration of the day, in a voice with a 
silver clarion ring. His words were fit and strik¬ 
ing, and the sentiments so thoughtful. He was 
one of the most attractive men in the Senate, 
being of a good height, with a handsome face, 
intellectual head, and imperious presence. A 
popular idol in Kentucky, he made so rapid an 
assent on the ladder of political honors, that he 
gained the Vice-Presidency almost at a bound. 
He was the youngest man who had ever ad¬ 
vanced to that distinguished post, he being but 
thirty-five years of age when elected to it. 

The program for the day was arranged with 
much ceremony. Mr. Crittenden, as the longest 
in service, held the floor of the Senate as the 
first speaker, and naturally dropped into reminis¬ 
cent mood, saying: 

I hope I may be indulged in a few words of 
parting from this Chamber. This is to be the 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 219 

last day of our session here; and this place, 
which has known us so long, is to know us no 
more forever as a Senate. The parting seems to 
me sir, to be somewhat of a solemn one, and full 
of eventful recollections. I wish however, only 
to say a few words. Many associations pleasant 
and proud, bind us and our hearts to this place. 
We cannot but feel their influence, especially I, 
Mr. President, whose lot it has been to serve in 
this body more years than any other member 
present. That we should all be attached to it, is 
most natural. Mr. President we cannot quit this 
Chamber without some feeling of sacred sadness. 
This Chamber has been the scene of great events. 
Here questions of American Constitution and 
laws have be^n debated and decided; questions 
of empire have occupied the attention of this 
assemblage in times past; this was the grand 
theater upon which these things have been en¬ 
acted. They give a sort of consecrated character 
to this Hall. 

Sir, great men have been the actors here. The 
illustrations dead, that have distinguished this 
body in times past, naturally rise to our view on 
such an occasion. I speak only of what I have 
seen, and but partially of that, when I say that 
here, within these walls, I have seen men whose 
fame is not surpassed, and whose power and 
ability and patriotism are not surpassed, by any 
of Grecian or Roman name. I have seen Clay 
and Webster, Calhoun and Benton, Leigh and 
Wright, and Clayton, (last though not least), 
mingling together in this body at one time, and 
uniting their counsels for the benefit of their 


220 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

country. They seem to our imaginations and 
sensibilities, on such an occasion as this to have 
left their impress on these very walls; and this 
majestic dome seems almost yet to echo with the 
voice of their eloquence. This Hall seems to be 
a local habitation for their names. This Hall is 
full of the pure odor of their justly-earned fame. 
There are others besides those I have named, of 
whom I will not speak, because they have not yet 
closed their career—not yet ended their services 
to the country; and they will receive their reward 
hereafter. There are hosts of others I might 
mention—that deserve to be mentioned—but it 
would take too long. Their names are in no 
danger of being forgotten, nor their services un¬ 
thought of or unhonored. 

Sir, we leave behind us, in going from this 
Hall, these associations, these proud imagina¬ 
tions so well calculated to prompt to a generous 
emulation of their services to their country; but 
we will carry along with us to the New Chamber 
to which we are to go, the spirit and the memory 
of all these things; we will carry with us all the 
inspiration which our illustrious predecessors are 
calculated to give; and wherever we sit we shall 
be the Senate of the United States of America— 
a great, a powerful, a conservative body in the 
government of this country, and a body that will 
maintain, as I trust and believe, under all cir¬ 
cumstances, and in all times to come, the honor, 
the right, and the glory of this country. Because 
we leave this Chamber, we shall not leave behind 
us any sentiment of patriotism, any devotion to 
the country which the illustrious that have gone 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 221 

before us have set to us. They like our house- 
sold gods, will be carried with us; and we the 
representatives of the States of this might} 
Union, will be found always equal, I trust to the 
exigencies of any time that come upon our coun¬ 
try. No matter under what sky we may sit; no 
matter what dome may cover us; the great 
patriotic spirit of the Senate of the United States 
will be there; and I have an abiding confidence 
that it will never fail in the performance of its 
duty, sit where it may, even though it were in a 
desert. 

But it is yet sir, not possible to leave this 
Hall without casting behind us many longing 
and lingering looks. It has been the scene of the 
past; the new Chamber is to be the scene of the 
future, I hope it will not be dishonored by any 
comparison to be made with the past. It, too, will 
have its illustrations of great public services ren¬ 
dered by great men and great patriots; and this 
body, the great preservative element of the Gov¬ 
ernment, will discharge all its duties, taking care 
to preserve the Union of the States which they 
represent—the source of all their honors, the 
source of the trust which they sit here to execute, 
the source as it has been and as it will be of their 
country’s greatness, happiness, and prosperity, in 
times to come as it has been in the time that is 
past. 


The Vice-President. Senators,—I have been 
charged by the committee to whom you confided 


222 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


the arrangements of this day with the duty of 
expressing some of the reflections that naturally 
occur in taking final leave of a Chamber which 
has so long been occupied by the Senate. In the 
progress of our country and the growth of the 
representation, this room has become too con¬ 
tracted for the representatives of the States now 
existing and soon to exist; and accordingly you 
are about to exchange it for a Hall affording 
accommodations adequate to the present and 
future. The occasion suggests many interesting 
reminiscences; and it may be agreeable, in the 
first place, to occupy a few minutes with a short 
account of the various places at which Congress 
has assembled, of the struggles which preceded 
the permanent location of the Seat of Govern¬ 
ment, and of the circumstances under which it 
was finally established on the banks of the 
Potomac. 

The Congress of the Revolution was some¬ 
times a fugitive, holding its sessions, as the 
chances of war required, at Philadelphia, Balti¬ 
more, Lancaster, Annapolis, and Yorktown. 
During the period between the conclusion of 
peace and the commencement of the present 
Government, it met at Princeton, Annapolis, 
Trenton and New York. After the idea of a 
permanent Union had been executed in part by 
the adoption of the Articles of Confederation the 
question presented itself of fixing a Seat of Gov¬ 
ernment, and this immediately called forth 
intense interest and rivalry. 

That the place should be central, having regard 
to the population and territory of the Cenfeder- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 223 

acy, was the only point common to the contending 
parties. Propositions of all kinds were offered, 
debated, and rejected, some time with intemper¬ 
ate warmth. At length, on the 7th of October, 
1783, the Congress being at Princeton, whither 
they had been driven from Philadelphia, by the 
insults of a body of armed men, it was resolved 
that a building for the use of Congress be 
erected near the falls of the Delaware. This was 
soon after modified by requiring suitable build¬ 
ings to be also erected near the falls of the 
Potomac, that the residence of Congress might 
alternate between those places. But the question 
was not allowed to rest, and at length, after fre¬ 
quent and warm debates, it was resolved that 
the residence of Congress should continue at one 
place; and Commissioners were appointed, with 
full power to lay out a district for a Federal 
town near the falls of the Delaware, and in the 
mean time Congress assembled alternately at 
Trenton and Annapolis, but the representatives 
of other States were unremitting in exertions for 
their respective localities. On the 23d of Decem¬ 
ber, 1784 it was resolved to remove to the City 
of New York, and to remain there until the 
building on the Delaware should be completed; 
and accordingly on the nth of January, 1785, 
the Congress met at New York, where they con¬ 
tinued to hold their sessions until the Confedera¬ 
tion gave place to the Constitution. The Com¬ 
missioners charged to lay out a town on the Dela¬ 
ware, reported their proceedings to Congress; but 
no further steps were taken to carry the resolu¬ 
tion into effect. 


224 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

When the bonds of Union were drawn closer 
by the organization of the New Government un¬ 
der the Constitution, on the 3d of March, 1789, 
the subject was revived and discussed with 
greater warmth than before. It was conceded 
on all sides that the residence of Congress should 
continue at one place, and the prospect of stabil¬ 
ity in the Government invested the question with 
a deeper interest. Some members proposed New 
York as being “superior to any place they knew 
for the orderly and descent behavior of its inhab¬ 
itants.” To this it was answered that it was not 
desirable that the political Capital should be a 
commercial metropolis. Others ridiculed the 
idea of building palaces in the woods* Mr. 
Gerry of Massachusetts thought it highly unrea¬ 
sonable to fix the Seat of Government in such 
a position as to have nine States of the thirteen, 
to the northward of the place; while the South 
Carolinians objected to Philadelphia on account 
of the number of Quakers, who, they said, con¬ 
tinually annoyed the Southern members with 
schemes of emancipation. In the midst of these 
disputes, the House of Representatives resolved, 
“that the permanent Seat of Government ought to 
be at some convenient place on the banks of the 
Susquehanna.” On the introduction of a bill to 
give effect to this resolution, much feeling was 
exhibited, especially by the Southern members. 
Mr. Madison thought if the proceedings of that 
day had been forseen by Virginia, that State 
might not have become a party to the Constitu¬ 
tion. The question was allowed by every mem¬ 
ber to be a matter of great importance. Mr. 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 225 

Scott said the future tranquility and well-being 
of the United States depended as much on this 
as on any question that ever had, or could, come 
before Congress; and Mr. Fisher Ames re¬ 
marked that every principle of pride and honor 
and even of patriotism were engaged. For a 
time, any agreement appeared to be impossible; 
but the good genius of our system finally pre¬ 
vailed, and on the 28th of June, 1790, an act 
was passed containing the following clause: 
“That a distinct territory on the river Potomac, 
at some place between the mouths of the eastern 
branch and the Connogocheague, be and the 
same is hereby accepted, for the permanent Seat 
of the Government of the United States.” The 
same act provided that Congress should hold its 
sessions at Philadelphia until the first Monday in 
November, 1800, when the Government should 
remove to the district selected on the Potomac. 
Thus was settled a question which had produced 
much sectional feeling between the States. But 
all difficulties were not yet surmounted; for Con¬ 
gress, either from indifference, or the want of 
money, failed to make adequate appropriations 
for the erection of pubic buildings, and the Com¬ 
missioners were often reduced to great straits to 
maintain the progress of the work. Finding it 
impossible to borrow money in Europe, or obtain 
it from Congress, Washington, in December, 
1796, made a personal appeal to the Legislature 
of Maryland, which was responded to by an ad¬ 
vance of $100,000; but in so deplorable a condi¬ 
tion was the credit of the Federal Government 
that the State required, as a guarantee of pay- 


226 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

ment, the pledge of the private credit of the 
Commissioners. 

From the beginning, Washington had advo¬ 
cated the present Seat of Government. Its 
establishment here was due, in a large measure 
to his influence; it was his wisdom and prudence 
that computed disputes and settled conflicting 
titles; and it was chiefly through his personal 
influence that the funds were provided to prepare 
the buildings for the reception of the President 
and Congress. 

The wings of the Capitol having been suffici¬ 
ently prepared, the Government removed to this 
District on the 17th of November, 1800; or as 
Mr. Wolcott expressed it, left the comforts of 
Philadelphia, “to go to the Indian place with the 
long name, in the woods on the Potomac.” I 
will not pause to describe the appearance at that 
day, of the place where the city was to be. 
Contemporary accounts represent it as desolate in 
the extreme, with its long, unopened avenues and 
streets, its deep morasses, and its vast area 
covered with trees instead of houses. It is enough 
to say that Washington projected the whole plan 
upon a scale of centuries, and that time enough 
remains to fill the measure of his great concep¬ 
tion. 

The Senate continued to occupy the north 
wing and the House of Representatives the 
south wing of the Capitol, until the 24th day of 
August 1814, when the British Army entered 
tne city and burned the public buildings. This 
occured during the recess, and the President im¬ 
mediately convened the Congress. Both Blouses 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 


227 


met in a brick building known as Blodget’s Ho¬ 
tel, which occupied a part of the square now 
covered by the General Post Office. But the ac¬ 
commodations in that house being insufficient a 
number of public spirited citizens erected a more 
commodious building on Capitol Hill, and tend¬ 
ered it to Congress; the offer was accepted, and 
both houses continued to occupy it until the 
wings of the new Capitol were completed. This 
building yet stands on the street, opposite to the 
northeastern corner of the Capitol Square, and 
has since been occasionally occupied by persons 
employed in different branches of the public 
service. 

On the 6th of December, 1819, the Senate 
assembled for the first time in this Chamber, 
which has been the theater of their deliberations 
for more than thirty-nine years, and now that the 
strifes and uncertainties of the past are finished, 
we see around us on every side the proof of sta¬ 
bility and improvement; this Capitol is worthy of 
the Republic; noble public buildings meet the 
view on every hand; treasures of science and the 
arts begin to accumulate. As this flourishing 
city enlarges, it testifies to the wisdom and fore¬ 
sight that dictated the plan of it. Future gener¬ 
ations will not be disturbed by questions concern¬ 
ing the center of population, or of territory, since 
the steamboat, the railroad, and the telegraph 
have made communication almost instantaneous. 
The spot is sacred to a thousand memories, which 
are so many pledges that the City of Washington 
founded by him and bearing his revered name, 
with its beautful site, on picturesque eminences, 


228 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

and the broad Potomac, and lying within view of 
his home and tomb, shall remain forever the po¬ 
litical capital of the United States. 

It would be interesting to note the gradual 
changes which have occurred in the practical 
working of the Government, since the adoption 
of the Constitution; and, it may be appropriate to 
this occasion to remark one of the most striking 
of them: 

At the origin of the Government, the Senate 
seemed to be regarded chiefly as an executive 
council. The President often visited the Cham¬ 
ber and conferred personally with this body; 
most of its business was transacted with closed 
doors, and it took comparatively little part in the 
legislative debates. The rising and vigorous in¬ 
tellects of the country sought the arena of the 
House of Representatives as the appropriate the¬ 
ater for the display of their powers. Mr. Madi¬ 
son observed, on some occasion, that being a 
young man, and desiring to increase his reputa¬ 
tion, he could not afford to enter the Senate, and 
it will be remembered, that, so late as 1812, the 
great debates which preceded the war and aroused 
the country to the assertion of its rights took 
place in the other branch of Congress. To such 
an extent was the idea of seclusion carried, that 
no seats were prepared for the accommodation of 
the public; and it was not until many years af¬ 
terwards that the semi-circular gallery was erect¬ 
ed which admits the people to be witnesses of 
your proceedings. But now, the Senate, besides 
its peculiar relations to the executive depart¬ 
ments of the Government, assumes its full share 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 229 

of duty as a co-equal branch of the Legislature; 
indeed, from the limited number of its members, 
and for other obvious reasons, the most import¬ 
ant questions, especially of foreign policy, are 
apt to pass first under discussion in this body, 
and to be a member of it is justly regarded as 
one of the highest honors which can be con¬ 
ferred on an American statesman. 

It is scarcely necessary to point out the causes 
of this change, or to say that it is a concession 
both to the importance and the individuality of 
the States, and to the open and free character 
of the Government. In connection with this easy 
but thorough transition, it is worthy of remark 
that it has been effected without a charge from 
any quarter, that the Senate has transcended its 
constitutional sphere—a tribute at once to the 
moderation of the Senate, and another proof to 
thoughtful men, of the comprehensive wisdom 
which the framers of the Constitution possessed. 

The progress of this popular movement, in one 
aspect of it, has been steady and marked. At the 
origin of the Government no arrangements in the 
Senate were made for spectators; in this Cham¬ 
ber about one-third of the space is allotted to the 
public; and in the new apartment, the galleries 
cover two-thirds of its area. In all free countries 
the admission of the people to witness legislative 
proceedings is an essential element of public con¬ 
fidence; and it is not to be anticipated that this 
wholesome principle will ever be abused by the 
substitution of partial and interested demonstra¬ 
tions for the expression of material and enlight¬ 
ened public opinion. Yet it should never be for- 


230 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

gotten that not France, but the turbulent specta¬ 
tors within the hall armed and controlled the 
French Assembly. With this lesson and its con¬ 
sequences before us, the time will never come 
when the deliberations of the Senate shall be 
swayed by the blandishments or the thunders of 
the galleries. 

It is impossible to disconnect from an occasion 
like this a crowd of reflections on our own past 
history, and of speculations on the future. The 
most meagre accounts of the Senate involves a 
summary of the progress of our country. From 
year to year you have seen your representation 
enlarge; time and again you have proudly wel¬ 
comed a new sister into the Confederacy; and the 
occurrences of this day are a material and im¬ 
pressive proof of the growth and prosperity of 
he United States. Three periods in the history of 
the Senate mark in striking contrast three epochs 
in the history of the Union. On the 3d of March, 
1789, when the Government was organized under 
the Constitution, the Senate was composed of the 
representatives of eleven States, containing three 
million people. On the 6th of December, 1819, 
when the Senate met for the first time in this 
room, it was composed of the representatives of 
twenty-one States, containing nine million people, 
j To-day it is composed of the representatives 
of thirty-two States, containing more than twen¬ 
ty-eight million people, prosperous, happy, and 
still devoted to constitutional liberty. Let these 
great facts speak for themselves to all the world. 
The career of the United States cannot be mea¬ 
sured by that of any other people of whom his- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 231 

tory gives account; and the mind is almost ap¬ 
palled at the contemplation of the prodigious 
force which has marked their progress. Sixty- 
nine years, thirteen States, containing three 
millions of inhabitants, burdened with debt 
and exhausted by the long war of indepen¬ 
dence, established for their common good a 
free Constitution, on principles new to man¬ 
kind, and began their experiment with the 
good wishes of a few doubting friends and 
the derision of the world. Look at the result to¬ 
day! Twenty-eight millions of people, in every 
way happier than an equal number in any other 
part of the globe! The centre of population and 
political power descending the western slope of 
the Alleghany Mountains, and the original thir- 
tee States forming but the eastern margin on the 
map of our vast possessions; see, besides, Christi¬ 
anity, civilization, and the arts given to a conti¬ 
nent; the despised colonies grown into a Power 
of the first class, representing and protecting 
ideas that involve the progress of the human 
race; a commerce greater than that of any other 
nation; every variety of climate, soil, and pro¬ 
duction to make a people powerful and happy; 
free interchange between the States—in a word, 
behold present greatness, and, in the future, an 
empire to which the ancient mistress of the world 
in the height of her glory could not be compared. 
Such is our country; ay, and more—far more 
than my mind could conceive or my tongue could 
utter. Is there an American who regrets the past? 
Is there one who will deride his country’s laws, 
pervert her Constitution, or alienate her people ? 


23 2 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

If there be such a man let his memory descend to 
posterity laden with the execrations of all man¬ 
kind. 

So happy is the political and social condition 
of the United States, and so accustomed are we 
to the secure enjoyment of a freedom elsewhere 
unknown, that we are apt to undervalue the treas¬ 
ures we possess, and to lose in some degree the 
sense of obligation to our forefathers. But when 
the strifes of faction shake the Government, and 
even threaten it, we may pause with advantage 
long enough to remember that we are reaping 
the reward of other men's labors. This liberty 
we inherit; this admirable Constitution which 
has survived peace and war, prosperity and ad¬ 
versity; this double scheme of Government, State 
and Federal, so peculiar and so little understood 
by other Powers, yet which protects the earn¬ 
ings of industry, and makes the largest personal 
freedom compatible with public order. These 
great results were not acquired without wisdom 
and toil and blood. The touching and heroic 
record is before the world; but to all this we were 
born, and like heirs upon whom has been cast a 
great inheritance, have only the high duty to 
preserve, to extend, and to adorn it. The grand 
productions of the era in which the foundations 
of the Government were laid, reveal the deep 
sense its founders had of their obligations to the 
whole family of man. Let us never forget that 
the responsibilities imposed on this generation 
are by so much the greater than those which 
rested on our revolutionary ancestors, as the pop- 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 233 

ulation, extent, and power of our country sur¬ 
passes the dawning promise of its origin. 

It would be a pleasing task to pursue many 
trains of thought, not wholly foreign to this oc¬ 
casion, but the temptation to enter the wide field 
must be vigorously curbed; yet I may be par¬ 
doned, perhaps, for one or two additional re¬ 
flections : 

The Senate is assembled for the last time in 
this Chamber. Henceforth it will be converted 
to other uses; yet it must remain forever con¬ 
nected with great events, and sacred to the mem¬ 
ories of the departed orators and statesmen who 
here engaged in high debates and shaped the 
policy of their country. 

Hereafter the American and the stranger, as 
they wander through the Capitol, will turn with 
instructive reverence to view the spot on which 
so many and great materials have accumulated 
for history. They will recall the images of the 
great and good, whose renown is the common 
property of the Union; and chiefly, perhaps, they 
will linger around the seats once occupied by the 
mighty three, whose names and fame associated 
in life, death has not been able to sever; illus¬ 
trious men—in their generation sometimes di¬ 
vided, sometimes led and sometimes resisted 
public opinion—for they were of that higher class 
of statesmen who seek the right and follow their 
convictions. There sat Calhoun, the Senator in¬ 
flexible, austere; oppressed, but not overwhelmed 
by his deep sense of the importance of his public 
functions; seeking the truth, then fearlessly fol¬ 
lowing it—a man whose upsparing intellect 


234 Memoirs of a Senate Page 

compelled all his emotions to harmonize with the 
deductions of his vigorous logic, and whose noble 
countenance habitually wore the expression of one 
engaged in the performance of high public duties. 

This was Webster’s seat. He, too, was even 
such a Senator. Conscious of his own vast pow¬ 
ers, he reposed with confidence on himself; and, 
scorning the contrivances of smaller men, he 
stood among his peers all the greater for the 
simple dignity of his senatorial demeanor. 

Type of his Northern home, he rises before the 
imagination in the grand and granite outline of 
his form and intellect, like a great New England 
rock repelling a New England wave. As a 
writer his productions will be cherished by states¬ 
men and scholars while the English tongue is 
spoken. As a senatorial orator, his great efforts 
are historically associated with the Chamber, 
whose very air seems yet to vibrate beneath the 
strokes of his deep tones and his weighty words. 

On the outer circle sat Henry Clay, with his im¬ 
petuous and ardent nature, untamed by age, and 
exhibiting in the Senate the same vehement pa¬ 
triotism and passionate eloquence that of yore 
electrified the House of Representatives and the 
country. 

His extraordinary personal endowments, his 
courage, all his noble qualities, invested him with 
an individuality and a character which in any age, 
would have made him a favorite of history. He 
loved his country above all earthly objects. He 
loved liberty in all countries. Illustrious man! 
Orator, patriot, philanthropist—his light at his 


Memoirs of a Senate Page 235 

meridian was seen and felt in the remotest part 
of the civilized world. And his declining sun, as 
it hastened down the west, threw back its level 
beams, in hues of mellowed splendor, to illuminate 
and to cheer the land he loved and served so 
well. 

All the States may point, with gratified pride, 
to the services in the Senate of their patriotic 
sons. Crowding the memory, comes the names of 
Adams, Hayne, Mason, Otis, Macon, Pinckney, 
and the rest—I cannot number them—who, in 
the record of their acts and utterances appeal to 
their successors to give the Union a destiny not 
unworthy of the past. What models were these 
to awaken emulation or to plunge in despair! 
Fortunate will be the American statesman who 
in this age, or succeeding times shall contribute 
to invest the new Hall to which we go, with his¬ 
toric memories like those which cluster here. 
And now, Senators, we leave this memorable 
Chamber bearing with us unimpaired, the Con¬ 
stitution we received from our forefathers. Let 
us cherish it with grateful acknowledgement to 
the Divine Power who controls the destinies of 
empires and whose goodness we adore. 

The structures reared by men yield to the 
corroding tooth of time. These marble walls 
must molder into ruin, but the principles of con¬ 
stitutional liberty, guarded by wisdom and virtue, 
unlike material elements, do not decay. Let us 
devoutly trust that another Senate, in another age, 
shall bear to a new and larger Chamber, this 
Constitution, vigorous and inviolate; and that the 


236 Memoirs of a Senate Page 


last generation of posterity shall witness the de¬ 
liberations of the Representatives of American 
States still united, prosperous and free. 

In execution of the order of the Senate, the 
body will now proceed to the new Chamber. 


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direct the following theatres and theatrical 
attractions in America: 


Hippodrome, Lyric, Casino, 
Dalys, Lew Fields, Herald 
Square and Princess Thea¬ 
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Garrick Theatre, Chicago. 

Lyric Theatre, Philadelphia. 

Shubert Theatre, Brooklyn. 

Belasco Theatre, Washing¬ 
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Belasco Theatre, Pittsburg. 

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Shubert Theatre, Utica. 

Grand Opera House, Syra¬ 
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Opera House, Providence. 

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Hyperion Theatre, New 
Haven. 

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Rand’s Opera House, Troy. 

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Sam S. Shubert Theatre, 

, Norfolk, Va. 

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Lyric, Cincinnati. 


Mary Anderson Theatre, 
Louisville. 

New Theatre, Richmond., 
Va. 

New Theatre, Lexington, Ky. 

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New Theatre, Atlanta. 

Shubert Theatre, Milwau¬ 
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Lyric Theatre, New Orleans. 

New Marlowe Theatre, 
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Grand Opera House, Dav¬ 
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New Theatre, Toronto." 

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ver. 

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Majestic Theatre, Los An¬ 
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Majestic Theatre, San Fran¬ 
cisco. 

E. H. Sothern & Julia Mar¬ 
lowe in repertoire. 












r Margaret Anglia and Henry 

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Mary Mannering in “ Glori¬ 
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Mme. Alla Nazimova. 

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Cecelia Loftus. 

Clara Bloodgood. 

Blanche Ring. 

Alexander Carr. 

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with Rose Starr. 

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Mrs. Fiske in “ The New 
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• Shore Acres.” 

Louis Mann in “ The White 
Hen.” 

“ The Road to Yesterday.” 

Henry Woodruff in “ Brown 
of Harvard.” 

“The Secret Orchard,” by 
Channing Pollock. 

De Wolf Hopper in “Hap¬ 
py land.” 

Eddie Foy in “ The Orchid.” * 

Marguerite Clark, in a new 
opera. 

“ The Social Whirl,” with 
Chas. J. Ross. 

James T. Powers in “The 
Blue Moon.” 

Bertha Kalich. 

“Leah Kleschna.” 

“The Man on the Box.” 

Cyril Scott in “ The Prince 
Chap.” 

“ Mrs. Temple’s Telegram.” 

“The Three of Us.” 


You cannot go wrong in selecting one of 
these play-houses for an evening’s entertain¬ 
ment in whatever city you may happen to be. 










BY 


JOHN C. BAIRD 


Handsomely Bound and Illustrated, $1.50 Postpaid 


The story deals with a traveler and his horse who have 
set out on a journey. . They become lost in a terrible 
storm, but seek shelter in a hermit’s cave. The hermit 
imparts a secret to the traveler about a certain grape in 
which there was supposed to reside a magic power. The 
traveler departs to continue his journey but again loses 
his way and discovers the grape, which he tastes. He is 
instantaneously changed into a king with a large court 
and retinue. He rules his people in a benign manner 
and tries the plan of settling everything peacefully instead 
of by war. 

When he has done all the good he possibly can do he is 
offered a glass of wine by a woman and, strange to relate, 
upon drinking it he is returned to his former state. His 
wife, however, is with him and they decide to build a 
cabin and live a simple and industrious life. 

The story is allegorical, proving that only truth and 
virtue are desirable. The literary merit is high, and the 
novel has elicited most favorable notices from the leading 
reviewers. 

Supplied by all dealers and department stores, by 
author (Vesper, Kan.), or direct from the publishers. 


BROADWAY PUBLISHING COMPANY 

835 BROADWAY - - NEW YORK 














BOOKS YOU MUST READ 
SOONER. OR LATER 


Book by the Author of’ 

A Girl and the Devil! 

We beg to announce for autumn a new novel from 
the pen of Jeannette Llewellvn Edwards, entitled 

LOVE IN THE TROPICS 

The scene of Miss Edwards’ new work is laid in 
strange lands, and a treat may be confidently prom¬ 
ised the wide reading public whose interest in her first 
book has caused it to run through over a dozen editions. 

••LOVE IN THE TROPICS” 

koitl be ready about Jdo'Oember I, and 
particulars tvill be duly announced 


The New Womanhood 

Bv Winnifred H. Cooley. 

$12 5% 

No more original, striking and brilliant ~treatise"'on' 
the subject indicated by the title has been given the 
vast public which is watching the widening of woman’s 
sphere. Mrs. Cooley is a lecturer and writer of many 
years experience; she is in the vanguard of the move¬ 
ment and no one is better qualified to s^eak to the great 
heart of womankind. 











BOOKS YOU MUST READ 
SOONER OR LATER 


Marcella 

A Tale of the Revolution 

By Wilubert Davis and Claudia Brannon^ 

' > r 

I2mo, cloth- Illustrated. 

$1.00. 

A fascinating story of the Revolutionary period/in 
dramatic form, in which the treachery of Benedict' 
Arnold and the capture of Major Andre are the climaxesj i 
The loves of Andre and Marcelle (herself a spy) lend a) 
very charming touch of romance. j 


The Burton Manor 

A NOVEL 

By Rev. M. V. Brown. 
fl2mo, cloth. $1.50. 

A most thoughtful, able and authoritative work in' 
'engaging narrative form, dealing with the existing evils 
of the liquor trade. The author has wisely embodied 
his conclusions in charming fiction—or fact?—and thus' 
the book will appeal to a public as wide as the continent. 









. . ..I.. . - a , ... -. „a„„r--- -•■■ - - - 

BOOKS YOU MUST READ 
SOONER OR LATER 


Lost in the Mammoth Cave 

By D. Riley Guernsey. 

Decorated cloth, i2mo. Illustrated. 

Price, $1.50. 

A tale which a Jules Verne might envy from 
his own vantage ground. Imagine the possibili¬ 
ties for a story which are conjured up by the 
thought of a party of brainy men and women 
lost in the Mammoth Cave! 

A prominent reviewer says: 

“This ought to be an immensely popular book. 
There are no idle moments from cover to cover, 
and it is one which the reader will not think of 
laying aside until he has read every word.” 


Under the Darkness of the 
Night 

A Tale of West Indian Insurrection » 

By Ellen Chazal Chapeau. 

Cloth, i2mo. Attractively Produced. 

Price, $1.00. 

The scenes of this stsry are laid in Ste. 
Domingue from 1 792 - 93 - R is a most timely 
book, written by one whose life has been passed 
among West Indians, and who can read the 
African character with surprising skill and ac¬ 
curacy. A wonderful picture of tropical life, 
brilliantly depicted. 

Broadway Publishing; Comp any , 

835 Broadway, New York. 









IfBOOKS YOU MUST READ 

SOONER. OR LATER 


Why ffol Order JVoto ? 


Evelyn 


'AQStory 'of the West and the FarT Easto 
By Mrs. Ansel Oppen a eim.} 

4 [litis. $1.50:, 

Limited edition in leather, S2.00. 

> \ . . .. _ - 

[G&i puto* b«* «p0%<>D of thJ* book with 'lnquaUfled tenujtf snili^L 


TheXbst of the Cavaliers 

By N, J. Floyd., 

'i 

^Drawings and Author’s Photo} 

$1.50. 

J “Ng wiser or more brilliant pen has tokl the s tory’of 
the Gvil War than Capt Floyd’s; no work more thrilling 
, Simply as a romance has recently been within the reach 
of book-lovers.’* 











Books for “The Battle 
of Life” & dt 

The Instrument Tuned 

By Rosa Birch Hitt 

Teaches how to regulate your physical system by 
thought influences; how to get clear of nervousness, 
restlessness and disease by learning to think 
health. Full of the newest ideas of the great New 
Thought 

$1.00, postpaid 

William ricKinley 

A Biography 

By A. Elwood Corning 
What greater incentive and inspiration to success 
than the life of the great martyr-president 1 He 
rose from the humblest beginnings — and the 
memoir is written especially for men and women 
who are “fighting their way." 

Fully illustrated; go Id; $1.25 

BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 

835 Broadway, New York. 






"”t«i i ii MawiwcwwMw i« i MiMi »«w^« ii i — n ruran ■■■■ i n ■ IWT r WMMMag«M>n«aBWtfi 

BOOKS YOU MUST READ 
SOONER OR LATER 


GREY DAWN REFLECTIONS 

By VIRGINIA BEALE LECKIE 

This clever "Washington girl has come close to 
writing the wittiest and brightest book of epigrams 
that has appeared in this epigram-mad age. A few 
samples: 

A friend lies for—an enemy about—and a wife with—you. 

If your grandfather made it in pigs you have a perfect 
right to look haughty when pork Is served. 

A married woman’s troubled look at 3 A. M. is not so much 
due to worrying '* if” as to ” how” he will come home. 

The majority of women lay the first misstep to Cupid ; some 
to the man; but it is a fact, if open to criticism, that curiosity 
and the opportunity are often to blame. 

Printed on grey antique paper. Cover in grey-? 
red, green and gold. Marginal decorations in color. 
Frontis medallion portrait of author in red, sepia and 
gold. Post-paid, $1.00. 

W&* What daintier holiday gift for your HIM of 
HER? 


BROADWAY PUBLISHING CO. 

835 BROADWAY, NEW YORK 

HSj g u i i i uu_ —i li ■ — ■ " > m 










BOOKS YOV MVST READ 
SOONER OR LATER 


Told Twilight 

By Eva Browne.’ 

(ATdelightful collection of stories and pooms^ 
lAuthor's photo.) 

$i-oo> 

Job Trotter) 

By. Sylvester Fields 
50c.) 

„A V Unique workr proving that the “earthly'paradise” 
the colored race is Africa. This book is decidedly 
'the.bcst work that has yet appeared on the. subject/ 


The" Sixv of Ignorance 


By Henrietta Siegel.. 
$1.00. 


An exceedingly clever story, by a NewTYorkgirl, who 
(pictures with a fearless hand the domesti c m isery result- 
lu^from drink and dissipation.) 


(4 special drawings.) 

\ ' - * 










BOOKS YOV MUST READ 
SOONER OR LATER 


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J0 SPRUCE ST., NEW YORK. 

V - 

BETWEEN THE LINES 

VIOLA T. MAXIMA 

Cloth, 12 mo. Dainty in style, thrilling in contents , $ 1 .<K 3 
This is a story on the always interesting subject of an unfort¬ 
unate marriage; a story of pique and lost opportunity. 

Broadway Publishing Company, 

835 Broadway, New York, 



























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